Monster no Goshujin-sama

24. Hidden

It was a herd of giant beetles storming this way that jumped into my eyes, pulling their gaze out of the sight that gave rise to the nausea played out in front of the fort's iron gate.

"-!"

The moment I saw the sight, I was pulling myself out of the window.

The reactivity of Ta was acquired naturally during a long life in the tree sea. I don't have time to intercept, and that's not the number that's possible. When I made that decision, I even flew as far back as I could by driving the magic in my body to improve my physical abilities.

At the same time, he grabbed the root of Kaihiko's wearing student clothes and held Kai's body in close proximity.

This was my best shot.

And then I can't reach it anymore.

Lily, who was moving out of her breath, leaps back against me. The goal is a door that leads to the spiral staircase. It was only moments after that that that the live shells ravaged the top floor of the watchtower.

"Ahhh!?

A soldier whose gaze was nailed by the events in front of the gate screamed as he was pierced by the corner of a stub beetle that jumped out the window. The beetle clashed against the wall across the street with the soldier's body hooked, and the soldier threw out all the things in his belly and died.

It's not just through the window. A crack ran on the wall along with the clash noise, crushed, and the next thing I knew, a bug bullet crossed the room.

In the proximity of the passing feathers, I popped my skin. If we were unlucky, we would have eaten a strong body. In fact, several soldiers were being swept down and screamed by the Terminator.

"Ugh...... Huh!?

After a few seconds of not even living comfort, I was breaking the door with my back.

The shock over the shield you were carrying stuffs your breath, but you won't lose consciousness because you were spinning your magic and increasing your physical strength.

… so that I could see the end of the snort.

Within just a few seconds, the wall in the direction where Stub Beatle was attacking was collapsing. Not only did the herd of giant insects jump into the room, but also clashed uninterrupted on the wall across from it.

It was the exact same kamikaze attack that was unleashed in front of the iron door at the main entrance of the fort. The walls crack, cracks run, and finally crack and scatter. The remaining walls could no longer support the ceiling, shrugging, deflecting, distorting and shaking.

The rest, already pulled by gravity, trapped the lives of people and monsters, and the top floor of the watchtower collapsed.

Roll down the spiral stairs. I pull it over twice, three times, and it hits a curved wall and stops. I screamed.

I fell off with a lot of momentum, so it hurts all over my body. If Lily hadn't given me shelter so I could hold my head over it, I might have hit her in the head and even suffered one of the injuries.

"... are you all right, Kay"

"Yes, sir"

I get up and make sure the girl I was holding in my chest is safe.

From what I've seen, no injuries. I stroked my chest down and looked up at the next staircase that rolled down.

"... no way"

The door leading to the top floor had been buried with rubble.

That was enough sight to realize that there was nothing more we could do.

"How's Kanahiko?"

I let Kay stand before me, and then I called out to another friend who had only been helped.

"... feels like an abrasion, a beating on parade. Seriously, it hurts. I think I'm going to cry. In short, it's wonderful to be alive."

Kanahiko stood up as he pressed his right shoulder against him.

A light mouth is a sad expression looking up at the end of a blocked staircase. I lay my eyes down.

"Bad, Kanahiko. I couldn't help anyone else."

"... no. For a moment, I didn't know what it was, but I live like this because of Takahiro, right? Thank you. I'm not gonna die until you talk to me about the captain."

Kanahiko didn't seem to realize it was Lily who accomplished the emergency escape. It was about the rash, and I guess it was because they grabbed the root and moved it forcefully.

Turning back to Lily, Kanahiko gave a grin where his strengths remained.

"Mizushima-san seems to be safe too, more importantly."

"Yeah. But what do we do? You can't stay like this."

Wearing the wooden spear and shield he was carrying, Lily pointed her gaze at us.

"... for now, let's move here. I don't know when this tower will collapse either."

I also pulled out the wooden sword I was offering on my hips with the round shield I was carrying in one hand.

I was really lucky not to have been disarmed. From here, I don't know what it is.

Seeing how we were, Kanahiko pulled out his dagger in a way that he was ready, and gave Kai one of them.

"Okay. Let's go"

We started going down the stairs.

Lily, who trivially runs half a step forward, looks sideways at me and asks.

"What are we going to do after this? You can't just run away."

"It's..."

And it came to pass, when I tried to answer, that I felt the wind in my face, and put up my words.

If you narrow your eyes, apparently Stub Beetle's 'stray bullet' clashed earlier, and the outside wind was blowing in through a broken wall hole halfway through the spiral staircase.

From there we looked down at the fort, and we were all breathtaking.

The Wall, originally the first line of defense to intercept monsters approaching the Wall, was at the extreme of chaos.

In the flames of Fire Fang, several soldiers fall to the ground from above the walls.

Raf Rabbit's rigid arm crushes bones all over his body for every soldier's armor.

Green Caterpillar kills the wounded with the dead, and Slime chokes the pathetic victim caught with his tentacles. A wide variety of other monsters had been attacked by soldiers I had never seen before.

Apparently, from the gate that Green Caterpillar broke through, those monsters broke into the fort. It was the first time we knew that Green Caterpillar wasn't the only one who pushed us to this fort.

Some large monsters, such as Trent, wander outside the castle walls without entering the fort, but most of them seem to have already broken into the inside of the fort, and monsters are still popping out of the entrance and exit that leads over the castle walls.

The soldiers seem to be about to collapse surrounding monsters that beat them with power and speed, but to do so, too many enemies were already on the spot. If it becomes a chisel, it destroys each one, and if it solidifies in a group and tries to launch an attack, now it jumps in before it gets in that position and gets kicked together.

Fort Chile has a flat multifaceted pillar. The interior of the exterior wall is further stretched to form a higher interior wall, so that an attack can be launched from above the interior wall, even where an intrusion into the exterior wall is permitted.

Apparently, however, the bulk of the force has been left on the outer wall. Yet a limited number of soldiers on the inner wall have been attacked by flyable monsters, including Stub Beetle, who have not been able to strike back effectively.

The delay in response was not due to low proficiency, but probably due to too many enemies and too early an invasion. The status quo greatly exceeds the assumed worst.

"Ugh, shh. Hey, is that a deep monster...?

Seeing this sight, Kay covered her mouth with trembling hands, turning her complexion so bright blue that she was likely to still graduate.

"Oh, and I can't believe so many monsters are attacking me at the same time...... Huh!?

"Do you have any idea what this is all about?

When I asked, Kay waved hard.

"Oh, there isn't. I can't believe so many monsters push over! Ko, isn't this, then, like an expedition to the Tree Sea of the Brave...... Huh!?

Indeed, the sight in front of me was very similar to the legendary passage of the brave man I heard from Silan. Was it a brave man who led an army into the Tree Sea and crushed it, driven by massive monsters?

"... no way those guys who headed for the rescue hit it badly, did they?

Kanahiko narrowed her eyes under her glasses and snapped in a low voice.

It was yesterday that Expedition's "Wewaten" Yuna Iino took a group of Imperial Knights to the area around the colony deep in the Tree Sea to rescue the survivors. The possibility that it is caused is not something that can be denied….

"... I don't know"

I felt uncomfortable. There seemed to be a gap between the sight in front of him and Kanahiko's guess right now.

But I don't know right away what that is.

In the end, I waved for the first time.

"Think here, it won't be something you know. Running to a safe place is more important now than ever..."

Even though I said so myself, I felt like a lump in my heart.

There was anxiety about having to move without understanding what was going on. I had a sense that I was being flushed into the situation.

Is it really okay to keep doing this?... but we don't have too much time right now.

"We are still oblivious to this fort, even as we flee to a safe place. Where do you think Kanahiko should run?

Switching thoughts. When I asked, Kanahiko roared low with one eye closed.

"... I think it would be nice if we were sleeping around. There, because it hits the deepest end of this fort. Hey, Kay?

"Yes. The residential area where the brave men were staying is in the thickest part of this fort to protect. Just because the walls have been broken doesn't mean we won't allow them to break in."

Kay seems to have regained some calm, too. Or maybe a certain sense of professionalism, that we must protect the brave, calmed her down.

"More importantly, there are two Explorers over there."

"Oh. No, those guys were there, too. I don't like it, but only your combat abilities are pitchy. Sure, there doesn't seem to be a safer place."

Kanahiko gives me a gaze over here. I nodded and gave Kay my eyes.

"Then, lead the way. Kay's the best at this fort."

"Ha, ha. Leave it to me!

We rushed out, spearheaded Kay, who could hold his fist for a long time.

Shortly before that, I glanced out of a hole in the wall. I sighed when I saw many monsters wandering across the wall.

... If it's possible, I wanted to get out of the fort and rendezvous with Rose and Gabella.

But in this situation, which is surrounded by monsters outside the fort, it is also difficult.

Unfortunately, we don't have a choice. Shaking off the untrained, I ran out after Kay.

"Yikes! This way, not this way!

"Damn it! Another detour!

How long has it been since I started running?

We had been forced to change course several times without knowing.

The corner was bent because it was a battlefield where angers and screams intersected.

Soldiers lined up to wait for Green Caterpillar, who sprints spears from his body after many battles.

Countless spears are rolled out, several of which break through the green epidermis. But regardless, the great potato worm plunges into the line, jumps the soldiers, and crushes them.

The soldier surrounds the potato worm, which gradually loses momentum, and puts more spears in all his fellow enemies. When the damaged potato worm turns hard, the soldier is slammed to the floor, to the wall, and the casualty is mass-produced. Beyond such a battlefield, a new enemy shadow is showing up early...

"This way!

With such a sight behind us, we ran through the hallway at Kay's lead.

The monsters were ravaging the humans on the walls, but they have been shredding their momentum since entering the fort. It would be because the fort's defensive force, which guards a narrow passage in a collective against monsters dispersed by the structure of the entrenched fort, is painfully confronted in its original way of fighting.

Nevertheless, it was an undeniable fact that was being pushed. They've broken through their defenses in some places, and they seem to be attacking a lot deeper. Sometimes there are fights ahead of us trying to escape, and because of that, we can hardly reach our destination.

Besides, I hope Green Caterpillar is still the main opponent, but that's a monster on the surface of the tree sea. Among the monsters who were on the walls were many of the more powerful deep tree sea monsters. If that thing starts invading the back of the fort in earnest, the damage won't be as good as it is right now.

If they caught up with me, it would have been over. For example, where there was that white Arakune Gabella, the amount of material that would just be crushed if it was attacked simultaneously is pushing.

We just have to keep running now anyway......

... No. Are you sure that's okay?

In the first place, it was questionable whether the status quo was something that could be handled by the force of this fort.

Aren't we trying to escape into a blocked trail? Such an ominous hunch was increasing the level of water in his chest.

"Hey, Takahiro"

"What?"

The concurrent Kanahiko called out. The face I saw on the side was slightly tense.

"I've been giving up so much and connecting my life, but, hey, is this when it's time to pay for my annual contribution?

"... don't be weird"

"You know Takahiro. This air. It's with the last days of the colony."

……

I couldn't say anything back. I had a bad feeling about it because it was something I shared.

This passage leads to a future of ruin. I don't feel that way. For us, it was also a road we passed once.

After a similarly terrible experience, we arrived at this fort. Perhaps what I feel on this occasion will also pass by like nature.

"Maybe there's something going on"

Said Kanahiko, as he plunged into his rough breath on the run.

"When I have to, I go first. Takahiro is next. Girls need to be protected."

"... then I will"

"No, you can't. Takahiro has Mizushima. In order, later."

I haven't heard much about it, it was a strong tone.

Said Kanahiko with a soft tone of voice after hitting me.

"Takahiro, you probably didn't realize it yourself, but when you were in the world over there, you admired Mr. Mizushima."

――

"Well, so did I.... Ah. Don't tell the captain about this. Now I'm a leader, and that was just a pale admirer. Takahiro would have been the same around here."

――

"Corner, I could be the lover of a girl I admire, and I need to take care of her."

Kanahiko grinned.

That was an open-minded, carefree boy's smile, no different than what he was showing in the classroom before he came to such a cruel world.

"No, you can't. Here too......!?

That's when Kay, who was leading us, screamed.

What we saw around the corner was Tetra Sickle, a dead grass-colored monster nearly two metres long ravaging a line of soldiers with all their tips.

The habitat is deep in the tree sea. It is characterized by two pairs of sickle-shaped forelimbs, left and right.

When a thin reaper sickle shook off clear, the soldiers who were cementing the aisle fell like jokes.

The surviving soldiers roll out their spears in the state of death, but their tips do not reach them. The face of a soldier frozen in despair was slashed off diagonally, his arms flying and his bowels smashed.

"Damn, even a little bit more! I can't get through here. Let's go back!"

And the tongue shall be beaten, and Kanahiko shall say, and we shall break the horns that have come.

And I immediately put my foot down.

Because there was a beast at the end of the aisle.

"Fire Fang......"

As we wandered through the tree sea, a gray wolf, not knowing how many times we had encountered, appeared in the passage we had rushed through.

He had one eye crushed, and two swords stabbed at his belly, thinking it belonged to the Knights, but to this extent he could not bring down this fierce beast. It was the remains of a man believed to belong to the Allied Knight who was bitten and dragged.

"... Ha ha. You gotta be kidding me."

Tetra Sickle on the front and Fire Fang on the rear.

We were caught in a powerful monster deep in the sea.

"Oh, no..."

Kay gives a groan of despair. That made sense, too.

In order for us to get out of this crisis, we have to defeat or overdo at least one monster, front or rear.

But they're too bad. That wasn't just what humans could do.

... Yes. To just humans.

But if you're not human, it was different.

For example, if it's the same monster......

Or if you are able to follow them......

……

I had the means.

But to do so, I must reveal the facts that I have hidden so far. That makes my position significantly worse. In this situation, it was even more so.

The fort is now under massive raid by monsters. There comes a monster manipulator. Bad behavior could have led me to suspect that I had guided this sort of thing.

And to my bad taste, that doesn't mean I missed the suspicion at all... I had already arrived at the identity of the discomfort I learned in the conversation before I started running away like this.

Kay said the status quo was like an expedition to the Trees of the Brave.

But just pushing over to this fort, it seemed like the monster was moving too neatly.

Especially a special attack that threw itself away. That's crazy. A certain state of excitement may also make it possible to run into the act of tomorrow, but as far as I can see, there was no single sign of frenzy in the imminent swarm of worms.

In that, it's like a machine. I can't feel the heat as an organism.

Plus, monsters surrounding the fort. That's odd, too.

Oh, and because of some monsters wandering around, I have forbidden to rendezvous with the Gabellas out there... but that looks like 'waiting to keep the people inside the fort out'.

This situation is unnatural, I can't help but feel people's malice. The idea of 'isn't there a being manipulating the monsters' didn't even seem so flighty.

I'm sure there are others who think the same way. Knowing my existence as Lord, who leads the monster, should have brought more people to the same conclusion. But...

"... don't you have time to get lost,"

The patrol was just for a moment.

Neither me nor Lily can die here.

Besides, there are also Kanahiko and Kai here.

If it's just me and Lily, or maybe we can make it through this place like an emergency evasion earlier, keeping our secrets safe. But while protecting the other two, it was impossible to think.

I was pushed back by Lily last night and swore I would get over the trauma planted since I came to this world. I think Kanahiko and Kai are trustworthy people. I'd like to believe them. I think that's the truth of what Lily said about me.

So we couldn't let them die.

I made up my mind to look down on Kanahiko.

"... Huh?

- Likewise, I saw Kanahiko looking at me.

Kanahiko looked at me and then turned to Lily. There's always a smile on my mouth. It was like a load of shoulders went down, that was a clear smile somewhere.

"Kay. I'm sorry, give me my weapon back."

Saying so to Kay, who was standing in despair, Kanahiko took up his dagger, which he had lent her.

"Let's do what I just said, Takahiro"

Kanahiko walks out of the brick aisle to Fire Fang. On the back pointed at us, there was a quiet readiness to dwell.

"I'll distract the fucking wolf, take Mr. Mizushima and Kai and run away."

"Mm, it's impotent, Kanahiko!

Kay, who returned to me all the time, said in a screaming voice to his back.

"It is reckless for Kanahiko, who is not even a knight, to stand alone against a deep monster! He's dead!

"Ha ha. Sure, I'm weak, I'm not a knight, let alone a brave man, but that hurts a little."

Kanahiko returned it with a bittersweet mixed voice.

"Let me dress like this."

"Kanahiko..."