Chapter 167 - Volume 8 (2/2)

*

“……Where is this place?”

“If everyone is safe, someone light a lamp.”

“Two of us are slightly injured…… but we should be able to fight still.”

The five of them had fallen down a pitfall into an ancient stone passage.

From their reckoning, they had fallen quite the distance, but since all of them were [hero-class], they had managed to only suffer minor injuries. One of their members was capable of using water-based recovery magic, so this was no issue.

“Can we head back up?”

“……No, it’s impossible. There’s no means to go so high.”

“Then let’s go ahead. Our first order of business is to find stairs leading back up and rejoin Lord Kyoji.”

“Right.”

At the squad leader’s words, the knights all picked up their weapons and lifted their spirits.

They could be called existences that were synchronized by Kyoji, young warriors whose skills were inferior to the squad that they had left behind, but they had a strong camaraderie, and were great at coordinating with one another.

“Hold on…… something’s coming.”

As one of them called out a warning, all of them stopped in unison, and the knight wielding the shield stood at the fore.

Waiting a while, they heard the sound of heavy footfalls approaching them from the front.

“It’s not Lord Kyoji. Open with magic.”

“Step back.”

A slender-looking knight stepped out from the back, and shot several Ice Javelins, a mid-tier water magic, down the passage.

“……Did you get it?”

However, no screams or sound came from the depths of the passage. On the contrary, the heavy footfalls continued to approach as if nothing had happened.

[Gau!]

“““………Hah?”””

The knights gaped at the adorable teddy bear that raised one arm to wave at them joyfully in greeting as it approached them.

“Wh-what is this?”

The shield knight pointed at the plushie even as nervous sweat beads rolled down his face. But the commander of the squad rushed forward to stop the knight in front who was about to approach it.

“Oi.”

“What, are you scared of something like this”

The shield knight looked back as he paused his footsteps and words.

And then he slowly fell down, half of him entirely missing as if it had been cleanly cut out.

[Gau.]

The mouth of the plushie that spoke again was blood-splattered, and they could hear the sound of something stiff and hard being crushed.

“…… It ate…… him?”

“This, this thiiiiiiiiiiiiing!”

The magic-wielding knight cast Ice Javelin again. But the attack was sucked into the mouth of the plushie that suddenly grew to envelop it, and it crushed the ice javelin with crunching sounds.

“Everyone, on alert! It’s a [Greater Demon] class demon at least!”

“How dare you!”

“Let’s take it!”

One of them had been defeated by the stealthy attack, but there were still four warriors of the [hero-class] here.

For a battle between a [Greater Demon] and one of the [Hero class], the advantage lay with the [Hero class]unless something completely unthinkable happened.

Even if the demon in front of them was stronger than that, they thought that they wouldn’t lose as long as they fought together.

But they forgot…… That there had been “multiple” heavy footfalls.

[GuoooooooooooooHHHHHHHH!]

And in the next instant, the stuffed toy roared at them as dozens of [Greater Demons] rushed in from the darkness and attacked the four of them.

[Gau].

Author’s Notes:

It got longer than I thought it would, so I split it into two parts.

I didn’t manage to get to Yuru still.

Next time, the second half! Kyoji’s battle!