<Sogou Ayaka POV>

The Human-Faced that stood in everyones way widely swung its remaining arm and threw the monsters that were clinging to its body towards us.

The monsters that were thrown began raining down towards all around the area.

It was as if a swarm of locusts had suddenly swept in towards us.

The sight of a huge amount of monsters leaping closer towards us was quite terrifying.

People running away

People who could only stare haplessly at this horrifying scene

People who chose to raise their spears and prepared to intercept the monsters

The battle quickly turned into a free-for-all battle.

[Everyone, stay in formation!]

As I mowed down the surrounding monsters, I called out to the others.

The monsters are a mix of small-sized and medium-sized monsters.

The medium-sized monsters were at least two meters tall.

They are running rampant here and there.

Furthermore, dust began fluttering about upon their arrival and our visibility became poorer.

However, my group fortunately didnt disperse and they were huddling together against the monsters.

They formed a circle with their backs to each other.

And inside that circle, we have some Heroes thats good at Support Skill waiting in standby.

(Thank goodness, they didnt break apart.)

Following their circular formation, I ran towards them.

As I ran, I killed the monsters I encountered in my path.

[Ayaka-chan!]

Hearing Moes call as she held her sword with both of her hands, I responded with an encouraging smile.

[It will be alright! Just think about protecting yourselves now! These dangerous monsters]

Plunging the blade of my spear deep into the leg of a fairly large monster, I use my special skill <Inner Bomb>.

(T/N: Internal Burst)

[Leave it to me.]

After the sound of a blast resounded, the monsters leg burst out from within.

Losing one of its legs, the monster falls down on his knees.

Then, I fluidly leaped forward and sent another <Inner Bomb> to put an end to its life.

Fuuu I exhaled.

In the midst of the chaos, there angry shouts and screams flying about.

Because of that, I cant hear the distant voices and I can only hear the voices near me.

(Where are the other groups.!?)

Kirihara and Yasus group.

I dont know where these two groups are.

Moreover

(That Human-Faced made of lots of limbs, that should have blocked the way earlier, but where did it go!?)

We especially need to be wary of those Human-Faced.

However, its location was unknown.

Is it because of that cloud of dust?

No, even with that, that Human-Faced was quite large.

Either a gigantic shadow or the sounds of its movements, I should have been able to easily sense it but

[Sogou.]

[Ah Abyss-san!]

Abyss had a brutal smile on her face when she appeared.

Her eyes were sparkling as they keenly glanced at the surroundings aggressively.

She held a monsters head on her hand as she dragged the monster with her.

Though I said that, whats left of what shes dragging was only the upper half of the monsters body.

The lower half of its body is probably rolling away somewhere after she twisted its body in half.

From the way shes dragging that upper body, I could tell that she was using that as a shield.

[For the time being, well break through one side and kill all the enemies we see.]

[Abyss-san, behind you!]

[I know.]

Not even looking behind her, she struck the monster behind her with her fist.

Just like a water balloon, the monster that pounced on her exploded and shattered to pieces.

[Now then Come on, you golden-eyed bastards.]

Seeing her frantically kicking away the monsters which showed no signs of diminishing, I gulped.

(As expected, Abyss-san is on a whole different level)

Abyss right arm was dyed in crimson.

Its not the color of the blood of the monsters she killed.

Apparently, her skin itself has changed in color.

Its also larger in size compared to her left arm.

The appearance itself has also somewhat mutated.

Whats with that arm?

I wonder if theres some kind of special power in it.

I cant help but think that its something beyond the humans realm.

The surrounding monsters also looked a little frightened by the intimidating feeling that Abyss was emitting.

[Oryaaaahhhh! With all the prey around us, I cant get enough of this!]

While blowing away the monsters with his red offensive energy, Oyamada emerged from the cloud of dust.

[Ohh? Its good that youre always lively wherever it is, Oyamada.]

[Shut up, sh*tty Abyss! Just shut up and let me have these preys! Oraaaaa!]

Oyamada draws near Abyss while killing the monsters with his unique skill.

And then- both of them turned their backs against each other.

[Abyss! Its fine if I guard your back, but leave the kills to me! Ill kill, kill and kill them all! And then, one day, Ill see you crying beneath my fists! I dont have any of your weaknesses or that sh*t after all. If you cant crush them with your weakness, then you could just force them down!]

I tried calling out to Oyamada.

[Oya]

[Ive always said this to you but-! Different from you Four Saints bunch who have long reached your peak, we Heroes still have a lot of room for us to]

While accumulating red energy in both of his fists, Oyamada procatively turned around.

[.Ah?]

Standing upright in front of him was Abyss, or what was left of Abyss, as her upper body disappeared with only her waist down remaining.

[-Huh?]

Absentmindedly, Oyamadas gaze slowly rose.

[What the f*ck]

Drip

Dropping from the neatly assembled teeth messily chewing on something, what fell on the ground was

[Wha]

A crimson right arm, which until a little while ago, had been easily twisting monsters to their death.

[Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-!]

Oyamada screamed.

[Waahhh! Noooo! Uwwaaahh! Uwaaaaahhhhhh-!?]

[No way]

Feeling a chill run down my spine, I stared at that thing.

How long has it been there?

That thing was now eating in front of Oyamada with anger on his face.

It was that Human-Faced that consisted of numerous limbs and the owner of the body where those large amounts of monsters were clinging on.

Come to think about it, I havent found any signs of it before.

Even with all the dust covering up the area, its strange that I havent found any of its presence especially with the size of its body.

Perhaps I thought of one possibility.

After a ripping sound rang out, a large amount of limbs sprang out from inside its raging body.

Its getting bigger.

Even that arm that had been extinguished by the Sacred Eye had been regenerated.

(That Human-Faced)

can alter its size.

When it reached about 20 meters, filled with anger, it lashed out both of his hands on the screaming Oyamada.

[Uooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

[Uwaaaaaaaaaaahhh! Waahhh! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

[Oyamada-kun, run!]

Right now, Im doing my best to kick away the nearby monsters.

If I were to leave this place, Kayako and the others would be exposed to danger.

(This wont do! The number of monsters arent decreasing at all!)

Rather than decreasing, they seem to be increasing instead.

The monsters that had been clinging to that angry Human-Faced, aside from those clinging on its arm, had also finally reached this place.

I tried searching for Agito and Yasu.

[Agito-san, Yasu-kun! Answer me if you can hear me! Oyamada-kun-]

[Bu <Bullet>! <Bullet> <Bullet> <Bullet> <Bullet> <Bullet> <Bullet> <Bullet> <Bullet> <Bullet> <Bullet>!]

Probably forgetting his derived skills, Oyamada started rampaging with the base form of his inherent skill.

[Uwo!? Uwoohh!? Uwooooohhh!?]

Just like that action when someone is struck by someones fist, this angry Human-Faced was slightly knocked back.

The limbs that making up its face were blown off to thousand pieces.

However, I couldnt find any fear from the angry Human-Faced.

[Gyyyyyaaaahhh! It wont work!? U- Uwaaaahhhh!? If Abyss herself cant win, then theres no way in hell could I win against it! Its impossible! Ahh! Wahhhh! Uwaaaahhhh! Uuwaaaahhh!]

Turning his back on the Human-Faced, Oyamada started running away.

[O- Oyamada-kun!?]

[Uwaaaaahhh! I dont want to die! ., ., ]

As if hes struck by lightning, Oyamada stops running.

With his mouth opened wide, his arms lost strength and dangled down beside him.

Thereupon, he suddenly ran off like theres no tomorrow.

[Save meeeeehhhhh! Uwaaaaaaahhhhh! Uwaaaahhhhnnnnnn! U- Uwaaaaaahhh! F- F*ck! Gyaaaaaahhhhh! Im scaredddddd! Aaaahhhhhhhhhh! Gyeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!]

[O- Oyamada kun]

(Did he lose his mind?)

Behind the cloud of dust and blood, Oyamada disappeared.

Some of my group also looked in the direction of Oyamada, who had ran away, in disbelief.

Putting my breathing that had been getting faster in order, I thought hard on what to do now.

(I need to somehow draw that Human-Faceds attention towards me!)

I cant think of any way to bring that thing down.

However, I must protect everyone in my group.

Thats when it happened.

On the back of that angry Human-Faced that began to move again, an explosion occurred.

It seems that some kind of Offensive Magic shot out from somewhere and struck it.

[Uwoooohhhh!?]

Fiercely howling, the angry Human-Faced turned right and leapt in the direction of where that attack came from.

Just like when it first appeared, it leaped while spinning in the air.

(Whose attack is that? Though, that really helped me However, Oyamada-kun!)

I actually want to go after him.

I dont think hes in the right mental state to fight right now.

However, I cant just leave Kayako and the others alone to go after him.

And right now, it doesnt seem that Kayako and the others would be able to move away from their formation.

They were just barely holding unto their defensive formation.

Internally struggling, I regretfully glanced at the direction where Oyamada disappeared.

(Oyamada, you!)

The unexpected death of someone stronger than yourself.

No matter how many curses he threw to her, he himself knows that Abyss was an absolute force to be reckoned with.

Shes the person that he believed that he would surpass one day.

However, he believed that its still far away before he could reach her

That Abyss cant do anything as shes been killed and eaten.

Moreover, she died right beside him and he was now confronting that Human-Faced.

Perhaps, what welled up inside his was a sense of despair beyond imagination.

Human-Faced.

When I first saw it, I was also terribly terrified and horrified.

The sense of intimidation from that thing is incomparable to those other monsters.

Just looking at it from a distance, I felt my heart chill at the sheer ominousness of that being.

(Bane-san)

Suddenly feeling uneasy, I glanced in the direction of the southern ramparts.

Banewolf has been dealing with three Human-Faced by himself.

I wonder whats going on in the southern ramparts right now

[Sogou-san!]

(This voice)

[Brown-san!? Thank goodness, youre all right!]

The Four Revered Saints second brother was walking towards us.

[Ah]

Brown had lost one of his arms.

The root of where his arm used to be is tightly tied with a belt to stop it from bleeding.

However, he was approaching while killing the surrounding monsters with his magic tools Offensive Magic.

As expected of a member of the Four Revered Saint.

He doesnt look like hes struggling with them.

It looks like he can still fight.

Brown should have been around the southern ramparts some time ago.

He may know what happened to Banewolf.

Brown calls out to me.

[Sogou-san, have you seen Big Brother and the-shing others!?]

[Ahh- Brown-san!]

[?]

A red line ran through from one of Browns ear to another.

The top and bottom half of the red line slid to the left and right and began splitting up in between

[Wha-?]

Browns head was split in half.

Losing its strength, his body falls down on the ground.

Thud!

One of the girls in my group let out a scream.

[No Noooooooooooooo!]

I felt my heart shrivelling up.

A chill runs through my spine.

The cold sweat that ran down my cheek was so cold that it feels like Ive lost the heat on my body.

[B Brown-san]

Looking closely, I could see something glittering behind him.

Is that thing reflecting the sunlight?

Could that have been what caused Browns head to be split in half?

(If thats the case, thats probably a fairly sharp weaponized thread or something like that)

[Fuhihihiiiiiiiiii!]

A bipedal, weasel-like monster emerged from behind the cloud of dust.

The monster the way the thread weasel looked towards me changed.

Its as if that weasel was sneering at me.

I felt strangely uncomfortable.

(That monster Could that monster perhaps let Brown-san escape on purpose just so that it could show others how it died?)

If thats the case, thats a really tasteless hobby.

The thread weasel walks past Browns corpse and begins approaching.

[A- Ayaka-chan! That monsters approaching, you know!?]

[Everyone!]

At Kayakos instructions, my group began unleashing ranged Offensive Magic.

However, the thread weasel didnt care.

Ngh

I push down my fear and grit my teeth.

[Leave it to me.]

I measure the distance between me and that thread weasel.

Deciding that Im going to do this I need to do this quickly.

I firmly tread on the ground.

Based on the trajectory of the light earlier There should be two threads.

I could see its movements based on the occasional glimmer of light and the swaying of the cloud of dust.

Compose yourself.

I mustnt lose my presence of mind here.

(Can I do this?)

I wonder why.

I feel like Im not fast enough.

I feel that my opponent is faster than me.

My special skills could only be used in melee.

In this situation, the inherent skills of Oyamada and Yasu which could attack enemies from a distance was more suitable but

[Hyiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeehhh!?]

Then, the thread weasel suddenly got engulfed in black flames.

The charred thread weasel fell on its back and stopped moving.

[I thought I heard Oyamadas disgusting scream earlier but Ayaka, what happened?]

Riding on his horse, Yasu Tomohiro arrived.

I explained the situation to him.

[Fuuuu Oyamada Shougo, how fragile you are! What a brittle, fragile, weakling! Kuhaha! Are you alright, Ayaka? Now matter how strong he was, he wouldnt be able to be a true victor without the spirit to back him up The spirit of fragile fellows like him wouldnt be able to withstand this cruel battlefield! After all, this was just a dreamy little game of playing heroes for him! And finally, Oyamada had no choice but to face reality! Hes usually acting like that but hes actually just a mentally incapable idiot! Ah, how hilarious! How thrilling! As expected, the one who possesses the vessel of a true hero is this Yasu Tomohiro!]

Spreading out wings made of black flame, Yasu loudly laughs.

The black flame feathers released from both of his wings attacked the surrounding monsters like bullets.

One after another, the monsters pierced with his feathers were engulfed in black flames.

(Yasu-kuns inherent skills have also leveled up)

[Yasu-san, wait for us!]

The members of Yasus group showed up a few moments later.

[Its the loser heroes huh Some servants you are, youre too slow.]

[S- Servants?]

[Im just stating the facts though?]

[Ugh Youre right, Yasu-san. Its just, umm Were not riding horses. If you could please adjust your speed for us even a little bit]

[Let me ask you Is it a sin to be fast?]

[Eh?]

[No! However, slowness is a sin! If you want this Black Flame Hero to help you that much, you must desperately follow behind me! Its just that all of you arent desperate enough! With such a fragile spirit just like that bastard Oyamada, all of you wont survive in the harsh society where the disparity of status continuously increases!]

[W- Whats wrong with Oyamada?]

Yasu proudly swept the air with his right hand.

At the same time- I reflexively moved.

[Fuuuu You may be surprised when you hear this. Oyamada just Hmm?]

Slash!

[Huh?]

The fingertips of Yasus right hand three of them were severed.

Drip, drip drop.

[Eh?]

[Fuhhiiiii.]

It was that thread weasel that cut Yasus fingers off.

Its still not dead yet.

Or perhaps, it had just revived.

It didnt seem to breathe anymore earlier, and it was completely silent after it was charred black.

Everyone thought it had died.

[Guuaaaaaaaahhhhhh!? My fingers!? My f*cking fingers!?]

[Fugiiiiieeee!? Giiiiiieeehhh]

The thread weasel tried attacking again, but I pierced its heart with my spear.

The moment that I perceived the killing intent of the thread weasel, I immediately moved to attack it with my spear.

On the other hand, my arm was also bleeding.

Even when it sensed me late, it still managed to instantly fight back.

Although I barely avoided receiving a fatal wound, I still received a slight wound on my arm from its counterattack.

However, if it hadnt been weakened by Yasus flames, I wouldnt have gotten away with just this wound.

However, I wasnt able to prevent its attack on Yasu in time.

From where we stand, Yasu was too close to the thread weasel.

Yasu fell off his horse.

[Gyaaaaahhhhhh!? Wheres my fingers!? My fingers!]

Deranged, he began to search for his fingertips, which should have fallen on the ground.

[I- I need to get myself healed! I need to pick it up and have it attached back! Have it attached by the Goddess! Ah, f*ck! Why the f*ck is this happening!?]

As for me, I immediately moved on to my next action.

The monsters keep on flooding in without pause, sinking into a sea of blood.

Even with all the monsters Ive killed, I feel like the number of monsters was increasing.

(Perhaps, even those monsters that were chasing us from the south gate joined in on attacking us!)

As expected, this amount of monsters was too much.

[Yasu-kun, calm down! I have someone in my group who can use Recovery Skills, so Yasu-kuns fingers]

[Found it! Alright, lets retreat, Ayaka!]

After wrapping his fingers in a cloth and putting them in his pocket, Yasu clungs to the saddle and mounted his horse again.

[A- Alright! Everyone, keep your defensive formation intact! While Yasu-kun and I move to protect everyone, follow us towards the north gate]

[Dont be an idiot!]

[Eh?]

Gripping the reins with one hand, Yasus eyes opened wide as he enragedly spoke.

[What is wrong with you!? Theres no need for me to protect them in this situation! Rather, those weaklings should be working hard to make sure that I live!]

[Yasu, you? What What are you saying?]

Even now, Yasu is burning the monsters that came close to him with his <Laevateinn>. (T/N: Sword Eye of the Black Flames / Laevateinn)

Hes still got enough strength to fight.

However

[Just think about it! What if Kirihara and the Takao Sisters are defeated by that Great Demon Emperor in the East! Oyamada is going to die somewhere in this battlefield! And Ayaka Youve been demoted to B-Rank! In that case, theres only one final hope, and its this A-Rank me! Considering my growth potential, its inevitable that the higher rank Heroes must survive, no matter what anyone thinks of it! Whose survival should be prioritized, it should have been as obvious as day! If I dont make it out of this battlefield alive Its all going to be over!]

Yasu rapidly said that.

To be honest, his logic was too difficult for me to understand.

One of the boys in Yasus group looks pale as he shouted.

[What are you talking about, Yasu-san!? You said that if we were to show you respect with our attitudes, you would protect us]

[Yeah! Why dont you understand!? Even if all of you survive, it doesnt mean anything! I need to focus on my survival in this place! Therefore, theres now way I can afford to protect all of you! Even though Ive been saying this, why cant any of you understand!? Why is no one trying to understand!?]

[Yasu-kun! If we can work together here]

[Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Youre just a lowly B-Rank, dont you dare command this A-Rank me! Yeah! I mustnt associate myself with losers like you who cant even be properly talked to! Retreat! Retreat!]

Kicking it on its flank, Yasus horse started running.

[However, mark my words! This isnt a defeat for me! This is all just a strategic retreat! I must live For the Goddess, for this world! I have to live!]

Yasus group began to shed tears as they voiced out their resentments.

[Dont mess around, Yasu! We need the power of an A-Rank to survive! We beg you! Save us Save us! Please save us]

[Wait, Yasu-kun! Please, lend me your strength!]

I also tried hard to stop him.

However, I cant do anything but call out to him right now, because Im too busy dealing with these surging monsters.

[Yasu-kun! Please!]

[We also have to live!]

As his flames burned through the monsters pursuing him, Yasu Tomohiro disappeared into the cloud of dust, along with his black flames.