Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 6 - Chapter 7

7. Disposition

But, well, you know?

It wasn’t as if Haruhiro’s party and the Tokkis did nothing but dig a hole for three days and three nights. There were no nights in the Dusk Realm, so saying it that way was strange... maybe? Yeah? Anyway, in those three days, less than half of those seventy-two hours were spent digging the hole. It was twenty-four hours, at best. The rest they spent sleeping.

No, no, that wasn’t true. Naturally, they did take breaks, and did sleep, and even took turns going back to the settlement to bathe, but they did other stuff, too.

Taro wandered by and suggested they come see the giant god and hydra themselves. Incidentally, the hydra was that writhing white creature. Taro’s father, Gogh, had given it that name.

“It’s a good name.” The young boy of unparalleled beauty, Taro, whispered to himself, his face bursting with an unrestrainable happiness. “The hydra. It’s cool. Dad’s awesome. He sure is my dad.”

Following Taro, who had a deep respect and love for his father, and probably his mother, too, Haruhiro’s party and the Tokkis approached the giant god and the hydra.

Both the giant god and hydra were constantly on the move, chasing after the decoy teams, so ultimately, the closest they could get was about fifty meters away. Even that was more than dangerous enough for them.

The giant god, in particular, was of a size that could only be said to transcend human understanding, and when Taro told them it was estimated to be 300 meters tall, they could only say, Oh, okay then. Is that all?

Haruhiro was around 170 centimeters tall, so 300 meters was roughly 176.5 times that. Even compared to Kuzaku’s 190 centimeters, it was still 156.25 times his size. There wasn’t even any point in comparing.

Defeat that thing? No way. Impossible. What kind of joke was that? There was nothing they could do. There was no way it was gonna work.

That was why, according to Taro, the decoy parties were thinking it might be a little much to handle on this outing.

Well, duh.

Like, what did they mean, “On this outing”? Was there going to be another one? Were they going to take it on next time? Were they stupid? Or just incredible? Did people who were so incredible just experience things differently?

Whatever the case, it was good news for Haruhiro that the giant god was getting crossed off the target list.

I mean, just think about it. Haruhiro’s feet were 25.5 centimeters long. If he multiplied that by 176.5 times, he got 4,500.75 centimeters. That was over 45 meters.

That thing wouldn’t fall into a pit trap that was 30 meters across. As for the depth, with its massive, 300-meter-tall body, even if they were being fairly conservative, they would want around two hundred meters.

Not possible.

Even setting aside the pit trap, it was impossible.

For a start, while it was true that the giant god looked humanoid when seen from a distance, and it walked like one, too, it was closer to a moving, pure-white megastructure. It was insane to think of killing that thing in the first place. At the very least, they should talk about “destroying” it instead.

Also, if they were going to destroy it, Haruhiro had to humbly think it was going to require heavy weaponry of some sort. Like siege weaponry, maybe? Though, even if they were able to collect enough of it, the enemy was hardly going to sit there quietly while it was destroyed. No, it would probably attack, and that wasn’t going to be simple to deal with. This was purely Haruhiro’s view, but wasn’t it kind of impossible?

Now, as for the hydra...

It must have been because they had seen the incredible spectacle of the giant god first before going to see the hydra. That must have been it. Because when Haruhiro looked at it, his first impression was, “Huh? Is that all?”

At a glance, it was maybe the size of a two-story building. No, maybe a little bigger. Also, it was long.

The hydra was a many-headed creature that looked like a mass of white snakes up to two to three meters thick.

It had nine heads, resembling snakes, but surprisingly without eyes. The creatures of the Dusk Realm all seemed to have one eye, so he would have expected one per head, but that wasn’t the case. Maybe that meant they weren’t in fact heads, but were actually tentacles after all.

The hydra moved by twisting a number of those tentacles around. It seemed four tentacles were used for moving. The remaining five were writhing in the air as if searching for something. They might actually have been feelers of some sort.

“We can take that thing easily,” Tada said with a laughing snort.

I don’t know about easily, but it feels more manageable than the giant god, and—No, no, no, no, no... Haruhiro shook his head. Hold on, hold on. I say that, but it’s still crazy huge, okay? If I got hit by one of those tentacles, I’m confident I’d die instantly.

The hydra was around fifty meters ahead of Haruhiro and the others, traveling west, but wasn’t that kind of close? Had they gotten too close? Right now, the five tentacles it didn’t use for moving weren’t pointing at them. In other words, the hydra either didn’t notice Haruhiro and the others behind it, or it didn’t care.

But what if it did notice? What would happen then? Wouldn’t that be bad?

“Um, shouldn’t we get farther away...?” Haruhiro ventured.

Taro looked back to him while continuing to walk. “It’s fine. This distance is safe. Probably.”

“‘Probably’?”

“‘Nothing in this world is 100% certain.’ My dad told me that.”

“Well, that might be true, but...”

“No, not ‘might,’” said Taro confidently. “Dad’s words are absolute.”

Huh? Wasn’t nothing supposed to be 100% certain?

How mad would this pretty boy get if Haruhiro poked at the holes in his logic like that? That’d be something to see. No, he didn’t want to see it, and didn’t want to get him mad. That sounded scary.

Incidentally, Haruhiro and the others were pursuing the hydra at a little more than a jog. Tokimune was carrying Anna-san on his back because he said it would probably be hard for her to keep up, but Haruhiro had to think he was a little too easy on her, even if she was their mascot.

“Who’s acting as the decoy?” Ranta asked.

Maybe Taro didn’t hear, because he didn’t answer.

“Hey, who is it? Hey? Who’s the decoy? Hey? Hey? Hey? Hey, why’re you so quiet? I’m talking to you, you know? Heeeey. Hey, hey, heeeey. Can you hear me? I’m asking you, can you hear me? Hey!”

“I hear you.” Taro didn’t even spare a glance in Ranta’s direction. “But I don’t care to answer. My mom told me, ‘Life’s too short to waste time talking to morons.’”

“What, I’m an moron?!” Ranta yelled.

“Yeah, you’re a moron.” Haruhiro couldn’t help but agree.

“You’re a moron, all right,” Yume concurred.

“Worse than a moron...” Shihoru looked like she had her own opinion about just how much of a moron Ranta was.

“It’s true that it would be a waste,” Merry said coldly.

“Well...” Kuzaku, who had refrained from saying anything, might have still felt the need to hold back.

“Ahaha!” Kikkawa clapped Ranta on the shoulder. “Well, I love how much of a moron you are! One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, right?!”

“Shove off!” Ranta yelled. “You’re annoying, Kikkawa! I’m not trash! If they want to throw me out like trash, I’ll throw them out first!”

“We wouldn’t mind that, you know?” Haruhiro said.

Ranta panicked. “You—you—you moron! That’s not what you’re supposed to say! You’re supposed to be, like, ‘Don’t say that!’ and tell me off! Tell me I’m not supposed to talk about throwing people away or being thrown away!”

“Ranta!” Tokimune flashed him a nice smile with his pearly white teeth. “You’re so high-maintenance!”

“Tokimune-san?! You know, that didn’t feel like a compliment to me!”

“It not compliment, yeah?!” Anna-san gave him the middle finger from up on Tokimune’s back. “What kind of warty boar’s ass did you come out of, you rotten dick?!”

“Heh...” Inui gave an evil smile. “Fall to ruin, you dog of the end...”

“Dog?” Mimorin looked around.

I don’t see any dogs here... Haruhiro agreed.

“Who is the decoy?” Tada asked, as if nothing had happened.

This time, Taro gave him a proper answer. “The hydra is primarily being led around by Pingo’s golem Zenmai. The giant god was Lala and Nono, I think. It was those two. Since they came here on horse-dragons.”

Horse-dragons were small dragons that walked upright on their hind legs. If a dragonet was raised from an egg, it could be trained to carry a human like a horse. Having seen them at the Lonesome Field Outpost from time to time, at first Haruhiro had thought he’d like to try riding one someday. However, when he’d learned that horse-dragons had their wings removed at a young age to make them suitable for riding, he had quickly lost any desire to.

“I see.” Tada nodded and stopped walking with a sudden jolt. “Heeeey, you stupid hydra! Look at me! Yeah, me! I’m here! Right here!”

Were humans able to shout that loudly? Just how was he managing to make that loud voice? Wasn’t he transcending the limits of the human body?

Haruhiro stopped in horror. Everyone else did the same. Even Tokimune and the other Tokkis were aghast.

“Wai—” Taro stopped, his eyes wide. “What are you...?”

“Come at me! Heyyyy!” Tada pointed his warhammer at the hydra. “I said, come at me, you wimp! Are you feeling cowardly?! Did you realize you can’t beat me?! You’re just an oversized weakling!”

That was when it happened.

The hydra didn’t stop. Rather, with its size, it might not have been able to come to a sudden stop. However, its speed clearly slowed.

One of its tentacles, the head-like section on the end of it, turned to face them.

Finally, the hydra stopped moving forward.

A second, then a third tentacle moved, and their eyeless heads turned towards Haruhiro and company.

“Heh...” Tada shouldered his warhammer, adjusting the position of his glasses with his left index finger. “Finally noticed me, huh. Took you long enough. Way too long.”

Tada, Haruhiro thought. What do you mean, “Heh”? Tada! Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Even if he said it out loud, it would have no effect. Haruhiro realized that much. It wasn’t uncommon for even basic conversations with Tada to break down. Well, what could he do then?

“Oh, for the love of...!” Haruhiro sputtered. He’d do this.

Haruhiro grabbed Tada by the collar of his priest outfit.

“—Gweh!” Tada squealed.

Maybe he was choking him, but Haruhiro didn’t care. It was Tada, after all. He’d survive.

“Everyone, run!” Haruhiro shouted.

He took off in a mad dash. Fortunately, the Tokkis followed him because it seemed amusing, so they were all able to start fleeing without a hitch. The biggest worry was the hydra’s actions.

If it came after them, would they be able to get away? What would happen if it caught them? Would they have to fight? Or rather, would they have to die? It was unbelievably terrifying just to think about it, but the hydra didn’t come towards them.

Had they gotten lucky? No, the decoy Zenmai must have done something to successfully provoke it. They had a lot to thank Zenmai for.

Once they had put 200 meters between the hydra and them, Haruhiro let go of Tada. He was sweating terribly. That had been scary.

“Man!” Tada held his throat, closing in on Haruhiro. “That hurt, you know, Haruhiro!”

He butted their foreheads together, but Haruhiro somehow held his ground. He only said, “Ow!”

Tada’s eyes were bloodshot. He was damn scary. But if Haruhiro backed down now, that seemed more likely to get him killed. He didn’t understand Tada, and doubted he ever would, but that was the sense he got.

“R-Reflect on what you just did!” Haruhiro shouted. “That was dangerous, you know?! I don’t even want to know what you were thinking, and I won’t ask, but please, cut that crap out, seriously!”

“Shut up! You’re the one who oughta reflect!”

“I wasn’t wrong, so I won’t!”

“What’d you say?!”

“I won’t reflect on it! Y-You ought to!”

Ohh, was it okay to go this far? Was it dangerous? He didn’t know. But if he didn’t push back against the pressure Tada was putting on him, he’d probably be taken lightly. In order to push back, he probably needed to put up a strong front.

“You reflect, Tada!” Haruhiro screamed. “You can’t put your comrades in danger on an impulse like that!”

“Ha ha!” Tada laughed as he ground their foreheads together again.

Haruhiro didn’t back down. He couldn’t. He couldn’t retreat. With all he’d said, if he backed down and apologized, he’d look like a total fool. He was close to crying, but he wouldn’t cry.

“A novice like you, trying to tell me...!” Tada moved his head back and forth. Their foreheads rubbed together.

Someone save me, Haruhiro pleaded silently. Someone stop him. Like Tokimune.

However, the moment he looked away from Tada to seek salvation from one of the others, the contest would be decided. That was the sense he got.

“E-Even if I am a novice...”

“Even if you’re a novice, then what?!” Tada screamed.

“...I can tell what’s right and wrong better than you can!” Haruhiro finished. “If you’re going to be like a child who can’t tell the difference, I’ll have to put you on a leash and lead you around!”

“Oh, ho.” Tada suddenly drew back, adjusting the position of his glasses with his left index finger.

Haruhiro nearly fell forward.

“Not bad.”

...Did he just grin? He seems happy? Haruhiro was stunned. I don’t get him...

But I’m saved—I think? he thought uncertainly. At the very least, it doesn’t look like I’m about to get beaten to death. No, if I let my guard down, he might come at me with his hammer, maybe? Just to be safe, maybe I shouldn’t let my guard down?

“Haruhiro.” Tokimune flashed his white teeth and gave him a thumbs up. “Nice fight.”

Oh, shut up, Haruhiro thought, but he was too timid to get angry. “Thanks,” he said, bowing his head a little.

“Pft...” Taro burst out laughing, then covered his face with both hands. “Heheheheheh! Ahahahahaha! You’re weird! You’re all so weird! Bwahahahahahahaha! Gwahahahahahahahah!”

He was laughing. Laughing like crazy. Laughing so hard, it looked like he was gonna keel over. The sight of the elven pretty boy doubled over with laughter was unexpected, and it took Haruhiro aback.

Taro stayed that way for a while, then suddenly cleared his throat and put on a serious expression. But his face had turned red. Even his long ears were red. He might have been embarrassed.

“Dad once said, ‘Laughter is the best medicine,’” Taro said solemnly.

Well, okay then, Haruhiro thought. What a strange elf.

Regardless, in between events like that one, Haruhiro’s party and the Tokkis took seventy-two hours to dig a hole that was around thirty meters across, and roughly three meters deep. They set up a number of support beams inside the hole, put nets that came from the merchants remaining in the settlement over top, and then camouflaged it with grass to make it more like a real pit trap.

It was easy to tell from up close, so it could hardly be called a perfect job. Still, if they lured a giant creature like the hydra on top of it, maybe it might fall in? Possibly? Honestly, there was no way to know until they tried.

They had agreed in advance to gather back at the initial hill once they had a finished pit trap. The initial hill was to the west of the settlement.

Haruhiro and the others had built their structures around five kilometers south of the settlement. It was going to be along the way, so they had decided to stop at the settlement. They had finally become accustomed to their work as volunteer soldiers, so no one asked for luxuries like a proper bath, but they did want fresh water to drink.

Even before they reached the settlement, everyone thought something was strange. To put it more clearly, they had a bad feeling about it.

The giant god was visible far off to the west. If it was moving, that was not really a problem.

The thing was, it wasn’t. It was standing still.

Just before they reached the settlement, Anna-san idly said, “That... direction of initial, yeah...?”

Yeah, Haruhiro thought.

It was pretty noisy inside the settlement. While most of the merchants had packed up and left, there were still seventy to eighty volunteer soldiers gathered there, after all.

No, if they had only been gathered there, it wouldn’t have been this noisy.

“What was that, jerk?! You wanna fight?!” “One-on-One” Max of Iron Knuckle was closing in on a man with blazing red hair as if he might try to grab him at any moment.

There were men forming a wall around the two of them, jeering and shouting, and that was why it was so noisy.

“Do I want to fight?!” The red-haired man who wasn’t just tall but had a big eyes, a big nose, and a big mouth, too, shouted at Max and didn’t back down a bit. “You’re damn right I want to fight, Tiny!”

“Who’re you calling tiny?! I’m not tiny, you’re just stupidly big!” Max yelled.

“Don’t blame others for your being tiny, Tiny!”

“‘Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny’—is that all you can say, Fatty?!”

“What about me are you calling fat, Tiny?! I keep my body fat percentage in the single digits, so don’t underestimate my body, you tiny little shit!”

“How the hell are you keeping your body fat percentage down?! Don’t act like you’re hot stuff just because you dye your hair red, you big loaf!”

“The word you’re looking for is ‘oaf,’ you ignoramus!”

“Don’t try to pick grits with the way I speak, you red-haired ass! You wanna get burned?!”

“What the hell is picking grits?! And if you think you can burn me, then burn me, you ape!”

“Who’re you calling an ape, you ape?!”

“Nobody who’s called me an ape is still alive now! Not that anyone ever has, though, okay?!”

“I’ll call you it as many times as I want! You ape, ape, ape, ape, ape, aaaape, ape!”

“Why, you...!”

Red Hair’s fists roared through the air. Max... didn’t dodge. That was probably intentional. Without avoiding the blow, he lowered his waist and took the hit with his left cheek.

Max shook for a moment, but he held through it. “Your wimpy punches don’t hurt or even itch!”

“Oh, yeah?!” Red Hair battered Max’s knees with a low kick this time. “Then how’s this?!”

“Ugwahhhh!”

What a kick. It was bold and powerful, yet sharp. It looked almost like both of Max’s legs were broken. Yet still, Max was standing. With a smile, too.

“Gyahyahyahya! That won’t work on me!”

“You’re putting on a strong front!” Red Hair punched Max in the face once, then again, and again harder. “It’s your one strong point, you little ape! Take this!”

“It doesn’t! Hurt! Dammit! Not! At all! Gwahrah!”

“Kuh?!” Red Hair pulled back the boulder-like fists he was pummeling Max with.

His head. He’d punched Max in the head. No, had Max let him punch his head? The skull could be pretty hard. If it hit at the right angle, it could even deflect a steel sword. Still, Max was covered in blood at this point.

Doesn’t that hurt? Has he completely lost it? That was all that Haruhiro could think.

Max immediately grappled Red Hair. Grabbed him by the lower extremities. He immediately pushed him down. He mounted him, raining punches down on Red Hair from above.

“Oorah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah!”

Red Hair was defending his face with both arms—or so it looked, but Max’s violent rush of attacks was incredible.

There’s no way he can fight back like that... The moment Haruhiro thought that, Red Hair thrust his right fist up from below.

If it had struck his chin, Max would surely have gone down. It would, without a doubt, have knocked him unconscious.

But Max twisted aside, dodging it by a hair’s breadth—and that wasn’t all. Without missing a beat, he seized Red Hair’s arm. He contorted himself around, going to put the joint in a lock.

However, Red Hair reacted quickly, too. He stood up, pulling Max up with him, who was clinging to his arm.

“Uwahahahaha!” Red Hair immediately swung his arm down, trying to slam Max into the ground.

Haruhiro imagined a scene of him being splattered, but that didn’t happen. Before he could be crushed, Max let go of Red Hair’s right arm. With a flexibility and nimbleness that made him look like an invertebrate, he spun around once and got back up.

“That’s not gonna work on me, Ducky! It’s the second time, after all!”

“I figured it wouldn’t! I still can’t forget how it felt smashing you up that time! I want another taste of it!”

“Well, isn’t that a coincidence? I dream of that time I beat the shit out of you sometimes, too!”

“Uwahahaha!”

Red Hair suddenly came out of his fighting stance and offered Max his right hand. Max grinned and slapped Red Hair’s right hand with his own.

The men around them all erupted into applause.

“Max! Maaaax!”

“Ducky’s the best!”

“Max is strong!”

“You moron, Ducky’s clearly stronger, you know?!”

“If they went at it for real, Ducky’s the one who’d die!”

“Shut up, you anus!”

“Now you said it, you stupid berserker!”

Some of the men were insulting each other, but they didn’t seem like they were ready to kill each other. It would have been a bit much to say they were getting along great, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

“‘Anus’?” Yume tilted her head to the side.

“It’s just an insult, probably,” Haruhiro said, trying to keep as calm as possible. “Anyway, you shouldn’t say that word.”

“Anuuuus?” Yume looked at him, mystified. “Why?”

“No, it’s fine, I guess,” Haruhiro muttered. “Not really, though...”

“Now listen, Yume,” Ranta said with a sigh, putting his hand on Yume’s shoulder. “Let me tell you about the anus. It’s, well, hard to explain in words, so I’ll point out where it is. You know how you’ve got an ass, right? Well, inside your ass is—”

“...Filthy,” Shihoru muttered to herself.

“Clever!” Kikkawa pointed to Shihoru.

Shihoru shrunk into herself. “I... I wasn’t trying to make a joke.”

“‘One-on-One’ Max and ‘Red Devil’ Ducky, huh.” Tada pushed up his glasses with his left index finger. “Yeah, they’re no match for me.”

“Those two are always going at it.” Tokimune looked at the two of them like a proud father might. “I guess it’s like they say—the more you fight, the better you get along.”

“I can’t understand that...” Merry shook her head.

“They were drawing blood...” Kuzaku seemed a bit weirded out, too.

“Heh...” Inui said.

I wish Inui would stay quiet, thought Haruhiro.

“To think they would begin that ritual without me....” Inui continued.

Because nothing he says makes a lick of sense.

“Oh, stupid fuckers! There other things to do first, yeah?!” Anna-san jumped up with her cheeks puffed up. “Other things? Why, shit? What was it? What?”

Honestly, what was it they ought to be doing first, huh? Haruhiro closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Perhaps he had always been the patient type. Either way, he felt like he had built up an impressive level of tolerance.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Shinohara approaching with a group of men and women in white capes. When compared to Max of Iron Knuckle and Ducky of the Berserkers, people it didn’t seem like he would ever understand, Shinohara seemed like a savior. He even had a halo of light around him. Was that an illusion?

Well, of course it was an illusion. There was no way he’d have an actual halo of light around him.

“Urkh...” Mimorin grimaced a little and narrowed her eyes.

Was he too brilliant for her? No way... could Mimorin see that halo of light, too?

Haruhiro blinked to confirm it for himself. No, not even Shinohara, great as he was, gave off a halo of light. That was obvious.

“Hey, Haruhiro, Tokimune,” Shinohara greeted them. “It looks like we’ve gotten into a bad situation, huh.”

“Hello,” Haruhiro nodded, looking at Shinohara with upturned eyes, “A bad situation? What do you mean by—”

“Allow myself, Kimura of Orion, to explain,” the bespectacled man with the crew cut butted in.

This guy again.

“We noticed that the giant god had stopped moving roughly two hours ago. Our pit trap was already complete, so we decided to pinpoint the giant god’s current location. Not exactly a difficult task. If you approach the giant god, its location becomes readily apparent. And so, we saw it. The giant god towering over the initial hill. Oh, how awful! For that is our only way home! Now, while we may not be completely unable to return, to do so would be incredibly difficult!”

Wh-What did you say? Haruhiro almost said in a completely monotone voice, but he stopped himself. He wasn’t that surprised.

He was depressed that his worst prediction, the one he hadn’t wanted to think about, had come true. But that was all. That was all it was.

From the looks of Shihoru, Merry, and Kuzaku, this had killed any enthusiasm they had.

Yume seemed to be deep in thought. It looked like she’d come to a conclusion. “...Ah! If we can’t go back, does that mean we’ve got no way of goin’ home?!”

“He already said that! Are you a moron?!” Ranta shouted at her.

“Yume’s no moron,” she defended. “People who call people morons, they’re the real morons, y’know.”

“Well, following your logic, are the people who call people geniuses the real geniuses, too?!” Ranta hollered.

“Hmm. Probably, don’tcha think?”

“You genius! You genius! Yume, you’re a real beautiful genius!”

“Oh? Really? Ranta, so that’s how you’ve been feelin’ about Yume,” she beamed. “It’s kinda embarrassin’.”

“Y-You dummy! That’s not what I meant! It’s not like that, okay?!”

“Your face is all red...” Shihoru gave Ranta the side-eye, shivering with disgust. “So gross...”

“Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Whose face is all red, damn it?! And what do you mean, gross?!”

“Hmm.” Kimura neatly adjusted the position of his glasses, looking back and forth from Ranta to Yume. “I apologize if this is a delicate question, but are you two in a deeply romantic relationship? In short, are you boyfriend and girlfriend?”

“Wh-Whaa?!” Ranta flipped out so bad he did a little dance. “Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you saying, you idiot?! D-D-D-D-Don’t make me laugh!”

“Nuh uh.” Yume swiftly denied it. “You’re wrong.”

“Y-Y-Y-Y-Yeah! Y-Y-Y-Y-You’re wrong! D-D-D-D-Don’t misunderstand! I’d never settle for her! I mean, look at her tiny tits!”

“Don’t call them tiny!”

“What’s wrong with tiny tits?!” Kimura was suddenly very angry. “Flat is sublime! Mankind has yet to invent anything that can transcend the flat chest! By no means!”

“Kimura, calm down.” Shinohara looked somewhat troubled as he patted Kimura on the shoulder.

“Oh, pardon me.” Kimura laughed. “I lost my composure there. However, allow me to clear up any misunderstandings. While it is my personal philosophy that flat chests are the pinnacle of all things, I do understand that they are not the only things of value. Naturally, I can get off to huge breasts, too! In fact, I am flexible enough to adapt to any bust size!”

“You’re passionate!” Kikkawa pumped his arm. “You’ve got passion, Kimuracchi! I get it, I so get it! I’m the same way, man! I’m good with any size, yeah!”

“Yeah!”

Kimura and Kikkawa exchanged a firm handshake. It seemed that a passionate friendship had formed between them.

Even Orion had weirdos like this, huh. Somehow, that was a deeply moving discovery.

“Um, yeah...” Anna-san shrugged her shoulders and look at them with disappointment. “Every time you open your mouth, you say boobies, boobies, boobies! That? That called sexual harassment, yeah! What if Anna-san and other ladies start talking about dick size in front of you? Think how that would send you to heaven, you tiny-dick losers!”

Merry furrowed her brow. “Hayashi? What’s wrong?”

Looking over, Merry’s former comrade Hayashi was crouched over. “...No. It’s nothing. Nothing’s wrong. Really, nothing...”

“Oh, my God!” Anna-san covered her mouth. “Are you real tiny dick? Nothing to worry about, yeah? Theories say even if it small, it still function no problem...”

“Theories say,” Mimorin said with no expression.

Why was she repeating it?

Hayashi was on the verge of tears at this point. The poor guy. But it would have been awkward to go comfort him. It wasn’t as if Haruhiro was so small he needed to be pitied. He couldn’t offer support, or really say much of anything in this situation. Maybe none of the guys could, and they just had to keep quiet?

“Hmph...” Tada licked his lips. “Basically, we’re gonna have to fight. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

That was Tada-san for you. No social graces whatsoever. For Tada, it didn’t matter to him, and he probably just didn’t care. That was why he ignored it. It was a very Tada way of doing things. In this case, Haruhiro was grateful for it.

No? Am I grateful? Huh? “We have to fight”? Hold on.

“What do you mean—” Haruhiro forgot what he was about to ask. More precisely, the fact that he was even trying to say something at all slipped right out of his mind. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong.

Something echoed past.

A sound? No, it was more a vibration than a sound. Though, if I recall, sound is a vibration, so I guess it was the same as a sound. What kind of sound? Haruhiro wasn’t sure, but it was loud. His whole body shook as if it had become one large eardrum. His very being was shaken by the sound.

With no time for surprise, he was at the sound’s mercy. This was a first-time experience for him. Where was the sound coming from? Where did it come from, and how far did it go? He wasn’t sure how vast the Dusk Realm was, but it couldn’t be that small. Had it reached the very ends of it?

Haruhiro saw the sound. It shook the world and distorted it. The distortions were visible to the eye.

Haruhiro clutched his chest. His heart was racing like crazy. The sound passed in a few moments, at most. However, his heart was still shaking. It was different from his pulse. Was it numb? It felt something like that.

He looked around. No one was totally fine. Everyone had been hit by that sound just now. Shihoru was sitting on the ground, clutching her head.

“Are you okay?” Merry held Shihoru as she helped her to her feet.

Shihoru nodded, but it seemed she couldn’t get any words out. There were tears in her eyes.

“What... do you think... that was, just now?” Haruhiro tried asking Shinohara, but then he thought Shinohara would be just as much of a loss for an answer as he was.

As he expected, Shinohara shook his head. He had a sharper look in his eyes than usual. “Dunno... but I doubt it’s a good sign.”

“You think?” Tokimune let out a deep breath, then flashed his white teeth. “I couldn’t be more excited, though.”

Ah... This isn’t gonna end well, Haruhiro thought. I can say from experience, nothing good ever happens when Tokimune says that. This is the worst. I don’t like this anymore. How did things end up like this? Whose fault is it? What the hell? Stop, please. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

Haruhiro unleashed every complaint he could think of inside his head, and then bottled them all up.

I want to run away. I can’t, though.

I’m ready for this—but that’s something I can’t say. It’s not possible. But I have to brace myself. No matter what happens, all I can do is cope with it. No matter what happens?

Just what’s going to happen here?

I don’t know.

As if I possibly could.

Iron Knuckle and the Berserkers had each gathered into their respective groups to talk about it. Orion was doing the same. Those who weren’t in a clan, or had come to the Dusk Realm as an individual party, not as part of their clan, were grouping together, too, out of uncertainty. Somehow, though Haruhiro’s party and the Tokkis hadn’t really decided to do this, the flow of things led them to join Orion’s group.

They discussed a great number of things.

Where’s Soma’s party? Where are Akira-san and his party? What was that sound just now? What should we do? What can we do for the time being? We should go home. Even if we were to return home, the problem is there’s no easy way to do that. Well, what should we do then? We should get out of here. Why would we move away from the settlement? Whatever we do, we need to decide on a general direction to take. It’s better if we don’t split up. Best if we stick together. No, maybe it would actually be better to split up and not focus ourselves in one place? If everyone is clustered together, there’s the risk we’ll all be wiped out. Wiped out? What do you mean, wiped out? We don’t know yet, right? It could be that nothing will happen. Where are Soma and his group? We were originally going to gather at the initial hill. Now we can’t; that’s why Orion came to the settlement. It’s probably the same for the others. So, where are Soma and his group? Akira-san and his group? What do we do? What should we do? What’s the right course of action?

It more or less just went in circles. They couldn’t find any answers. Iron Knuckle and the Berserkers weren’t moving, either.

Eventually, Shinohara and Kimura got into a discussion. It looked like the two of them would decide what to do for Orion.

There were volunteer soldiers scattered around, arguing over this or that. It was noisy. Not just that—there was a restlessness in the air.

Haruhiro had to say something. Had to talk to his comrades. Because Haruhiro was the leader. He had to decide. That was how he felt, but he couldn’t think straight. Nothing came to mind.

This was no good. He couldn’t let things stay this way. Honestly, that was the only thing Haruhiro knew. He didn’t want to look his comrades in the eye, so he hung his head.

No good. This is no good. It’s seriously no good. He felt ill. I can’t breathe properly. It hurts. Hadn’t I braced myself for the worst? How pathetic. Yeah, that’s right. I’m a pathetic person. I know. I can’t be decisive even if I want to. I mean, that’s not what I am.

“Listen,” Kuzaku said. “Me, I’m going to follow you. No matter what happens, I’m with you, Haruhiro. I thought I should say that, at least.”

“M-Me, too,” Shihoru raised her hand a little. “Haruhiro-kun, you’ve saved me so many times. I wanted to say that...”

“It’s gotta be Haru-kun, y’know,” Yume said with a giggle.

“I’m sure,” Merry smiled. “If you hadn’t been there, Haru, something terrible would have happened. I mean that in so many ways. I’m here now thanks to you.”

It all resonated.

In so many ways.

Merry’s words in particular.

That’s what it’s like, huh?

It wasn’t quite the right way to put it, but he felt like something precious had been snatched away from him.

If only he had realized sooner. That he truly loved Merry.

Still, even if he had realized it, this was Haruhiro. Surely he couldn’t have done anything. In other words, it would have been the same.

Yes. The same. Things had turned out this way because they needed to.

“Heh.” Ranta snorted derisively. “You guys are so cheesy. Did you want to trigger your death flags that badly? You’re morons. Seriously, seriously.”

It was actually reassuring. If Ranta didn’t act like Ranta, it would have thrown Haruhiro off-balance.

Haruhiro spun his shoulders around. Worked out the tension. What good was being on edge going to do him? That wasn’t the sort of situation this was.

“They won’t die, man.” Haruhiro’s eyes probably looked sleepy right now. Of course, he wasn’t tired. “I won’t let anyone else die.”

The moment he said it, he started to think things like, Well, that’s the hope, I’ll work myself practically to death to keep everyone alive, that’s what I’m saying, it’s an expression of intent, I don’t know if it’s possible or not, but—

This was Haruhiro. He couldn’t suddenly change who he was. However, pretending to have changed—that, to some degree, he could do.

“Ducky, we’re going!” “One-on-One” Max led Iron Knuckle into action. It looked like they’d be heading for the initial hill.

“Do what you want! The Berserkers are staying on standby!” “Red Devil” Ducky shouted back. It looked like the Berserkers planned to stay in the settlement.

Max and Ducky had different builds, but they were the same type. Because they were the leaders, or bosses, rather, Iron Knuckle and the Berserkers gave off a similar aura. They were aggressive and showy.

Iron Knuckle used blue and black, while the Berserkers used red as their signifying colors, and each of the members had those colors displayed on their equipment. It looked like they had clan symbols, too. Iron Knuckle’s was a clenched fist, while the Berserkers used a skull with a cross sword and ax. However, though they were similar, Iron Knuckle were cheerful and mischievous, giving off what could be taken as a more youthful vibe. The Berserkers had what could charitably have been called a sense of dignity, or less charitably called cunning.

Iron Knuckle were going offensive, the Berserkers were defensive. Shinohara and Kimura were still talking it over. What would the Tokkis do? Haruhiro looked to Tokimune to gauge his reaction.

Huh? Is something weird? he thought suddenly. By weird, I mean—this is...

This sound.

Haruhiro looked to the east. Then, to the south.

It’s coming. Getting closer. A white giant. Footsteps, huh. That’s right. This rumbling... It’s white giant footsteps. No, but this... But wait, huh? These white giants, the number of them...

It’s not just one or two, is it? About how many? I don’t know. Maybe they’re still far off?

They’re coming from over there, and over there, too?

I can’t quite count. It’s too many to. I don’t have time to sit here and count.

“Th-There’s a swarm of white giants!” Haruhiro’s voice sounded like it might crack.

“Whoa...” Even Tokimune was shocked. “They’re coming from all over, huh.”

Tada laughed, spinning his warhammer around. “That’s how I like it.”

“Heh...” Inui spread his arms wide. “Wind of ruin, blow with wild abandon!”

“You no say bad omen things, yeah?!” Anna-san punched Inui.

“I’ll ard-gu Anna-san with my fe-li!” Kikkawa pointed to himself with his thumb.

“Ard-gu and fe-li...” Haruhiro muttered despite himself. They were probably some of Kikkawa’s signature scrambled words, but he couldn’t even figure out what they meant anymore.

“Kwahh,” Mimorin let out a strange sound as she drew her sword.

“Looks like we’ve gotta fight, damn it.” Ranta lowered the visor on his helmet.

“But even if we’re gonna fight...” Kuzaku adjusted his helmet and readied his shield. “...can we, really?”

Yume, Shihoru, and Merry were all silent. Their expressions were stiff and grim. Even Yume was grimacing.

Haruhiro honestly wanted to flee. But the question was, where to? Yeah, it didn’t look like there was anywhere. Because the giant god was at the initial hill.

Could the giant god have made that incredible sound? That was the kind of thing he was thinking. Then it turned out like this? They say let sleeping gods lie, but maybe we volunteer soldiers angered the gods of this Dusk Realm?

It didn’t matter. At the very least, it wasn’t anything to think about now.

“Hey, Shinohara!” Ducky shouted, waving to them. “Help us out here for now! Splitting up isn’t a smart plan!”

“Let’s call back Iron Knuckle, too.” Shinohara nodded. “This is a time when we need to pull together, clan differences aside! Orion will do as it always does!”

“Listen, don’t you dare get scared and turn your backs on the enemy!” Ducky roared. “If you turn tail, expect to get killed! Face forward until you die!”

“What’s that red-haired guy stating the obvious for?” Tada laughed mockingly.

Was that guy not afraid?

Haruhiro was afraid. He could feel his knees and the bottom of his stomach quivering.

Iron Knuckle turned around and came back, led by Max.

“They’re here, they’re here, they’re here!” Tokimune banged on his shield with his sword.

Oh, I don’t want to look— But Haruhiro had to look. The white giants. They’re still a ways off to the south. The white giants to the east are pretty close. From what I can see, there are around ten, maybe? There could be more behind them.

While there were differences between individual white giants, they could be categorized into roughly three size categories. The four-meter class, the six-meter class, and the eight-meter class. Those in the eight-meter class were rare, and Haruhiro had never seen one before.

There were two of what looked to be those eight-meter class white giants. One was six-meter class, and the rest were four-meter class.

Haruhiro wasn’t brave and decisive, or stout-hearted, or clear-thinking, or calm. The best he could manage was to act out the role of the dauntless leader. He needed to play that role somehow.

Shihoru. Yume. Ranta. Merry. Kuzaku. He looked to each of their faces. I have comrades, and I don’t want any of them to die. That’s why we need to overcome this together.

“If you’re sleepy, just go to sleep, leader,” Ranta laughed.

“How many times do I have to tell you? I was born with these eyes.” Haruhiro thumped one fist against his chest. “—Okay. Let’s get this job done. Sleep can wait until after that.”