That brought a wave of cheers from the adventurers. It seemed that their fighting spirit was restored.
Just in the nick of time
The roars of beasts came from the way ahead, along with the sound of footsteps.
"They're coming. We'll build our defensive line here. The people on the flying disks above will drop into the side roads. Leave the main road to me!"
The beasts were on the main road. Though they looked like large dogs, their eyes were filled with an infernal intelligence, and in place of drool, flames leaked from their maws.
There were fifteen of these hellhounds here. Standing before them was Lakyus, who gripped the demonic sword Kilineyram with both hands.
"You petty demons, don't you dare look down on me."
With a prayer to the water god on her lips, Lakyus clove the leaping hellhound in half with a single strike. The floating swords surrounding her acted as shields, blocking the attacks of the hellhounds from her flanks. She kicked away another one that was snapping at her ankles.
Lakyus was handling six hellhounds by herself, and the rest went on to attack the other adventurers. The weaker ones took them on one at a time, while the stronger ones handled multiple hellhounds at once. In this way, they whittled down the numbers facing them. By the time Lakyus had slain all six of hers, the others were done as well.
"Tend to the wounded!"
"No problem, Lakyus-san!"
Of course, they hadn't gotten through untouched, but the injuries weren't severe. Considering they had to conserve their mana, it was quite an auspicious start.
"People on the sides, I say again! Advance 50 meters and hold!"
The cry to advance echoed from both sides. Holding her sword, Lakyus went forth as well.
Three men ran down the dark and narrow alleyways. Nobody else was there with them.
These three men were Climb, Brain, and the former orichalcum ranked thief that had accompanied them during their attack against Zero's base.
The adventurers working for Marquis Raeven were all patrolling the capital’s streets in order to hunt down any demons who broke through the containment line. Climb had only managed to obtain the services of the thief because according to Marquis Raeven, the man himself had asked to help Climb out. That was to repay the kindness Climb had shown by blocking Zero's attack on him and for healing him. In addition, Raeven wanted to repay the favor he owed to Renner.
Thanks to the thief's choice of routes, they had not encountered a single demon so far. They might not even have made it here without him.
Although they had some confidence in facing demons who relied purely on strength and speed, they would be done for if any demons who could use special abilities showed up. Given that this team was a largely mundane one that lived and died by their steel, they would have a hard time defending against attacks that weren't purely physical in nature.
Their acquaintance had only been a brief one, but because of this, the thief understood that Climb and Brain were sorely deficient in this department, which was why he had joined this pair of clearly suicidal men.
Brain silently thanked him as he ran on, hunkering down to reduce the size of his silhouette. Gradually, the style of the surrounding buildings began to change; the amount of non-residential buildings began to increase. It seemed they were nearing their objective.
"I have to ask, why are we headed for the warehouses?"
Climb answered the thief, who was inspecting their surroundings.
"Renner-sama mentioned that if they were rounding people up and taking them prisoner, they would need a big space to control and imprison all of them. With that in mind, it would be easier to separate families and lock them up in several big warehouses instead."
"I see. If the families are split up, they'll think they're all being taken hostage and be less likely to flee. If that's the case, we have to hurry… well. Even if we double back on our original route, we still need to pick a safe path."
"Thanks. We're counting on you."
There was more to do after the rescue. While thinking about how they would make it out of there, one thing that stood out as absolutely important was a safe axis of retreat. The choice of route was crucial, especially since they would be moving a lot of people.
But how long could this streak of luck last? Brain wondered.
This mission was essentially ordering Climb to die.
Since the other side was rounding up the civilians, that meant they had a plan for them. In turn, that meant they would be watching them closely. And according to what he had heard, the enemy leader Jaldabaoth was a being who could kill adamantite ranked adventurers in seconds. Any sentries he placed would be formidable indeed.
Brain's attention turned to Climb by his side.
He had worn his white armor to let people know that he was Renner's knight. Currently, he was stroking his gauntlet… or rather, the ring he wore on the ring finger underneath it.
Gazef himself had given him that ring.
It was something he had obtained from an ancient granny who used to be part of Blue Rose. According to the legends, it was an extremely rare item born of ancient magic, that could raise a warrior's powers beyond its limits.
You must return alive. Brain recalled Gazef's face as he said that.
Gazef had not shown any particular emotion at that time. No anger, sorrow, or despair. He understood that as a warrior in service to a lord, there would eventually come a time when he would be ordered into a battle that would result in his death. However, in order to aid Climb without being physically present, he had lent him the ring.
Brain had been following the thief's hand signals when he suddenly sensed a presence. Looking up, his line of sight followed the building— in that instant, Brain felt an impact that seemed to stop his heart.
On the edge of a roof of a nearby warehouse was — judging by her height and body type — a girl with long, blonde hair. She wore a dress made of pure white fabric that had been elaborately embroidered, and under the hem he could see that she wore a pair of high heels which sparkled like diamonds. Combined with her extravagant array of rings, jewelry and other necklaces, it made one think that she was some noble’s daughter, or a wealthy heiress of some sort.
Her beautiful figure, illuminated by the wall of fire, contrasted sharply with her bone-white mask, yet, her mystique was not diminished in the slightest. And in contrast to her striking appearance, her presence was far too subdued, as though she were nothing more than a wraith in an oversaturated world.
Her clothes and the color of her hair were completely different from that time. Back then, she might have been said to have been born of the night, but this time, she seemed to have descended from the moon. But even so, there was no doubt that they were the same person. The image Brain had seared into his soul from before layered itself over the person he was looking at now.
He was sure of it. Under the mask of the young girl above him was the face of that monster— Shalltear Bloodfallen. It seemed that she had not noticed them yet, but if it was truly that same monster standing before him, then no matter how far apart they were, they would be instantly killed if she discovered them. Was there a way they could flee without being detected?
There was none.
When Brain realised this, he felt as if he was putting a foot on cracked ice. He was suddenly aware of the oily, disgusting sweat oozing out of his pores.
Brain signaled to Climb and the thief, indicating he had something to say. Sensing that he had spotted something, the two of them halted and held their breaths.