Heroes to Hunted

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ

The man heaved and grunted gruffly while holding his hammer high.

Just beyond the weapon, I caught a glimpse of a familiar sight. Though with not as much flare as we'd seen with Takagi and Weiser, the man's hands lit up faintly with small green spheres of light.

'He's using magic!' I thought, stunned.

Then, after loudly exhaling a gust of air, he twisted his hips and swung with the force of a freight train.

Knowing an impending blow was on the way, I winced, panicking in anticipation. My eyes followed every motion of his medieval sledgehammer, expecting it to knock my head clean off.

"Kamidaaaa!!!" Agawa screamed out, followed by the rest of my companions.

Though I wanted to, I couldn't utter a word. Not to beg, not to protest, not to argue, not a single one. When I imagined such a thing smashing my head, I couldn't move. Shivers of fear traveled up my spine and froze my tongue in place.

The hammer closed in, and one thought plagued my mind.

'I don't want to die.'

The hammer inched closer.

'I don't want to die...'

And even closer.

'I don't want to die!' I closed my eyes, too afraid to look my killer in the eye.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and a gust of cold air blew past my face. The weapon's tip had come so close that I could feel the air's vibrations as it passed by.

'I'm not dead?' I questioned, then opened my eyes. They followed his weapon's head; straight into view of his true target. I saw that same goddamn bear!

"It's...alive?!" The realization enticed me to give up. To accept my fate since even this man's monstrous strike wasn't enough to kill it.

The beast was mid-tackle, with outstretched hind legs and an unlatched mouth. It must've wanted to deal the man a fatal blow as soon as possible.

Luckily, he must've noticed the beast before I did. As it turned out, his swing was meant to be a counterattack against it the entire time. 'He never intended to kill me at all!' I smiled with frenzied relief.

The idea he planned to splatter my brain was just a silly misunderstanding!

'What a ridiculous reality...' The idea that my "misunderstandings" had gone from petty miscommunications to possible death events was almost funny if it wasn't so depressing.

Still, I now had the knowledge that even this man's nuclear strikes couldn't finish the beast, not for good. My heart tightened at the idea that we would end up grizzly food anyway.

Despite facing what could've been his fatal mistake, the man's expression remained blank and unfazed. Even with the maw of death so close, the man made no attempt to preserve himself.

'What a fool,' is what I thought until I saw why he was so calm and confident.

As the claws closed in, a barrier of sparkling blue-green light repelled them away.

'But how? How is that possible?' So far, every display of "magic" we'd seen required a visible charge. Some kind of build-up with floating, colored orbs.

I guess the question wasn't necessary, though. What was important was the result. Thanks to the barrier's protection, his swing completed its arc and landed square in the gut of a pouncing bear.

Upon colliding with the side of the beast's belly, his hammer crunched the grizzly's ribs into numerous fractures, causing it to cry out in pain. Then, after twisting and smashing the beast's insides as deeply as possible, the hammer rag-dolled the beast, felling it to its side.

The beast's body skidded far across the mud until it halted next to where we'd left it after Agawa's and Takagi's victory.

Like the grizzly, I was blown away. Though the man was a monster, to think he could effortlessly hurl something so huge with such ease was absurd!

Probably because of the adrenaline from the shock of what I saw, I regained some strength in my body. 'I can move again,' I sighed wearily. I turned my neck and cast my sights on the rest of my allies. They, like me, were wearing dumbstruck expressions at what they'd watched, minus our two unconscious members.

Despite having her gaze transfixed on the unknown man, Ayame never took her palms off Nakamura's bleeding back. Despite the shockwave... Despite the monster duel playing out in front of us... She diligently pressured Nakamura's wounds as best she could.

It was a feat that demanded total respect!

Then, a harrowing roar tore me from my admiration for Ayame. 'It can't be...' I slowly straightened my neck back to the scene of battle-torn carnage.

But it was...

What I saw was that same godforsaken bear standing back up as it exuded a bright-green aura. Some good news was that, despite the healing and like the blade in its back left leg, some damage remained.

'Well, that's something at least,' I tried to hold on to some semblance of hope. Then, squinting my eyes, I noticed its side was irreparably disfigured by the man's strike.

'A good sign!' I hoped.

"Just die already!" a voice filled with irritation shouted behind me. Though I didn't turn, I knew it couldn't be anyone other than Takagi. "Why won't the thing fucking die?!"

Likewise, the rest of my group shouted in despair and frustration at the beast's unyielding nature.

Unlike us, the man merely shrugged and took up his hammer once more. The grizzly stood up to meet his challenge, favoring the side that wasn't caved in, and whimpered.

"Help whenever," the man spoke in a low tone and paced a few steps toward the beast.

I was baffled. 'Is he talking to us? That's ludicrous!' Surely he saw how battered and beaten we were. However, I had my answer when two feminine figures appeared on his left side.

"Huhhh," one sighed, "we thought ya had it covered! A measly quillbeast shouldn't be that big of a deal! 'sides, Yuki did give ya the barrier! Ya should be thankful!"

The girl had shaded green hair, matching the surrounding forests. It drooped low down her back in an unkempt braided ponytail.

Within her grip was an expertly crafted shortbow made from shaped and smoothed pinewood. Matching the picture of an "archer," she had a leather-bound quiver that boasted numerous feathered arrows tethered to her back.

She looked us over with attractive turquoise eyes; her expression shined with curiosity. "So, these guys from Blackwood, ya think? They look like hell!" she snickered with a grin.

"Focus," the second girl ordered, "it's still alive." she nodded in the grizzly's direction.

Her voice was tranquil but commanding. Despite her quiet demeanor, I felt a degree of calm control from her that you'd only experience from a natural-born leader. I'd know; my boss was the same way.

As for her physical appearance, we couldn't discern anything noteworthy. She was shrouded in a black burlap cloak. Its shadow obscured most of her facial features. Her only revealed characteristics were her sparkling azure eyes and a single lock of purple-tinted hair that dangled in front of her face.

"Asuka, cover us from here," she said, then turned to give us a cold stare. "and guard them."

"But!" the archer whined.

"Do it," the cloaked woman ordered.

"Fiiiiine," the archer relented. She then turned to me and smiled, "guess I'm babysittin' ya...huh?"

I awkwardly chuckled, still confused by what was happening. "T-Thank you?" It sounded more like I was asking a question than expressing gratitude.

"Dontcha mention it!" she replied with a wide grin. "Glad tah meetcha, newbie!" she took her free hand and motioned to my collar.

'Newbie?' I was about to ask what she meant when the girl turned from me and ran to Nakamura.

"Oh, this ain't good!" she dug into a pouch latched onto her waist. When her hand emerged, she held what looked to be pure white cloth bandages and homemade gauze.

Seeing the strange girl revealing medical supplies, Ayame turned from fear to distrust. "Can you help him?" she asked with impatience.

"I can def'nly try!" the archer replied cheerily.

Though I would've liked to celebrate our fortuitousness, my fears returned when the ground shook by another of the grizzly's howls.

The beast charged with reckless abandon, utterly uncaring about its well-being. Its sole focus was on tearing apart any that stood in its way.

To challenge its approach, the three strangers remained calm and unphased.

"Shrug, you're with me," the cloaked girl said, raising two delicate, light-skinned hands from her cloak. Within each was a symmetrical, lightweight longsword.

The honed blades shimmered strands of light as the Sun's few rays interacted with their polished surfaces. Despite the metallic portions appearing to be of master quality, the handles themselves were makeshift, comprised of multiple straps of darkened leather.

The hammer-wielding giant of a man turned to her and, like his apparent namesake, only shrugged in response.

Flourishing her swords with a spin, the cloaked woman paced confidently toward the beast. Likewise, the giant grunted and swung his hammer into an attack position.

The preparations for their fight now finalized, the two set off to kill what I assumed was unkillable.

Though I was filled with hope at that moment. Hope that our first day in this nightmare was finally coming to a close. Hope that we'd finally see a chance to relax in safety's sweet embrace.

Sadly for us...there was still one moment of despair to be experienced before the day was done.