WASNF 05

Chapter 5

Deep in the forest, where a solid camouflage net was tightly strung over the temporary trench. Elio dropped her head, her mind spinning. It was while she was trying to catch some sleep, using as a nest an old but wide trench presumably made by merchants traveling across the Ogre Mountains.

A fishy scent pierced Elio’s tip of the nose. The moment she flutteringly opened her eyes, her drowsiness vanished in an instant. It didn’t just vanish; her mind went freezing cold.

Carlos had approached, drawing a greatsword.

Is he suddenly going to kill me? Elio’s startled pupils trembled wildly. He trapped Elio within his arms, pressing down on both sides of her shoulders.

“Mi—my lord?”

At that moment, a shriek that felt as though it would tear her eardrums apart echoed out.

Startled out of her wits, she covered her ears, and as a vibration that shook the foundations of the earth with a thud, thud, thud resounded, her body began to sway helplessly.

Catching her swaying body with his own, he pressed her against the trench wall to prevent her from tumbling down.

“Commander! They’ve come! It’s an ogre!!”

A knight’s voice could be heard from afar. Without taking his eyes off Elio, he opened his mouth.

“It’s dangerous, so the trench…”

The rest of his words could not be heard.

Carlos stood motionless amidst the violently shaking vibrations, looking down at her.

For a few seconds as explosions poured down and the sound of clashing blades grew louder, he simply stood still and gazed at her.

“…Come outside.”

His words reached her again.

Elio could not understand those words.

Outside…?

Because it’s dangerous, come outside the trench?

Carlos’s gaze lingered on Elio’s pale hands, which were clutching his clothes.

“Ca, Carlo—Lord Carlos!”

Before his name could even be fully spoken, he hardened his expression and vanished out of the trench in an instant. Slam. A stench drifted through the gap as the camouflage net closed roughly.

Nausea surged up, and her entire body began to tremble violently. With the intensifying vibrations, the camouflage net shook as though it would collapse, and her hands kept slipping down the wall.

Scratching the sandbags of the trench with her fingernails for a grip, she peeked through the gap in the camouflage net. Right close by, a dark green mass was visible.

Perhaps it was the leg of the monster.

Elio buried her head. The black eyes that had looked at her without a single tremor. She recalled what he had said, but she couldn’t understand what coming outside meant.

Her heart pounded as if it would burst and spill out right away.

Aren’t you supposed to stay inside when it’s dangerous? Did I mishear ‘inside’ for ‘outside’? Are ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ words that can be misheard? Is it really more dangerous if you stay inside the trench? Will the ogre crush the trench entirely? A storm of all sorts of thoughts swept over her simultaneously, leaving her mind completely blank about what she should do and how.

“Come outside.”

She recalled his voice once more. His eyes flashed through her mind, his face flashed through her mind, and along with them came the large hand that had wiped her cheek with a soaked handkerchief.

Elio closed her eyes tightly. She bit down on her lips hard enough to draw blood.

I have to go out… I must have to go out.

I have to go…

With hands trembling uncontrollably, she grabbed the sandbags. Crawling on all fours up the dirt wall, she pushed aside the heavy camouflage net.

Thud.

In an instant, as if the world were turning upside down, she tumbled onto the bare ground. Cold moisture seeped into her body, and a nauseating smell of blood that threatened to paralyze the tip of her nose wafted over.

Hastily jerking her head up, she saw the knights slicing straight through the monsters’ waists beyond the ogre’s carcass. White lines of light ran rampant, bursting flesh.

And right next to her, a green mass was visible.

“Krr-gh-guk-k-guk-kk-guk-k.”

The bloody lump approached, emitting a grotesque wailing sound.

No sound came out of her throat, so she swallowed every single spine-chilling scream deep inside her body and looked up at the beast.

Where an arm should have been, blood was gushing like a fountain. Having both arms severed and swords planted in both legs, the monster approached, howling in pain.

At the horrific appearance resembling Baal, a demon risen straight from hell, her entire body began to shake madly. She needed to scream, but it felt as though someone had a tight grip on her throat, and only a choking, rattling moan spilled out.

She turned her neck with a creak, but Carlos was nowhere to be seen.

Not a single one of the knights spewing out lines of light beyond the ogre was looking at Elio. Her jaw trembled violently, her teeth chattering together.

No matter how much she looked around, she was all alone in front of this monster.

“Tsk. This won’t do.”

Tobi muttered as he slashed his sword once more into the belly of the ogre that was already dead.

“Looks like it’s too much for her after all.” Leon said, slightly furrowing his brow. He lowered his hands—he had already killed his share, but had been lazily conjuring light magic while pretending to keep casting spells.

“Hop around, my foot. She’s not budging at all.”

“Why on earth would you test her with an ogre out of nowhere? What kind of people are you and the commander, being so extreme…”

“Hey, are you kidding me? Did I just send her out bare? I even chopped off both her arms and stuck swords in her legs!”

Tobi beat his chest as if he were feeling wronged.

“Doesn’t that look even more terrifying?!”

“Damn it, then should I have sent her with flowers attached? You’re the one who said we should test her nerve!”

“Ha… Forget it. Expecting anything else in the first place seems to have been a mistake.”

“See! What did I tell you? I said there was nothing to expect.”

“For now, why don’t you go take care of that repulsive ogre in front of the young lady.”

Tobi climbed up a giant tree, glanced sideways at Carlos—who was watching Elio without looking away for even a second—and clicked his tongue.

“Forget it, man. The commander will take care of…”

At that moment. With an enormous, high-pitched pitch as if hundreds of mirrors were shattering simultaneously,

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!”

Tobi’s eyes popped wide open and he hurriedly looked toward the source of the sound. The other knights, who had been killing and re-killing the already dead ogre, likewise stared fixedly at a single spot with faces of pure shock.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhk!!!!!’”

Elio stood up clutching a sandbag, screaming continuously without a break like a completely out-of-her-mind lunatic.

“What kind of cr…”

Tobi, who had been about to let loose a string of curses out of sheer surprise, paused, tilted his head, and put on a strange expression.

The woman took a huge breath in and screamed, took a breath in and screamed, regularly repeating the process while gradually widening the distance between herself and the ogre.

Tobi slowly opened his mouth.

“That… thing…”

“…It looks like she knows.”

Leon said, narrowing his eyes and pushing up his glasses.

Tobi twitched his thick eyebrows and let out a dry, incredulous laugh.

That’s right. That tiny young lady seemed to know. That ogres utterly detested high-frequency audio ranges.

“To think someone would actually utilize the fact that ogres are weak to high frequencies… This is the first time in my life I’m seeing this.”

“…Naturally you’d see it for the first time. What kind of insane bastard fights by going KYAAK?”

Rather go KYAAK than commit suicide.

“…Even among most young ladies, I doubt there’s anyone who would endure by screaming their lungs out like that.”

That was true too.

That crazy rabbit was straining her pale neck—which looked devoid of even a single blood vessel—bulging her eyes, and continuously pouring out high frequencies as if she were a baby pterodactyl.

Shouldn’t normal young ladies just faint instead?

Tobi muttered with a dubious expression.

“Well. Her nerve… must be… alright, I guess.”

Elio craned her neck, looking around her surroundings. She was screaming loud enough to make the mountain range shake, but she couldn’t figure out why the knights weren’t coming to rescue her.

There’s no way they can’t hear this, they said he’s the top swordsman. They said he’s the continent’s top swordsman. Why aren’t they saving me….

A taste of iron rose in her throat. It felt as though no more sound would come out. She choked down sobs that wouldn’t turn into proper cries.

She touched the ground. Continuing to make a faint, metallic rattling noise, she crawled underneath a tree where a puddle of water had formed.

With trembling hands, she dug up the pile of mud. She tasted blood in her throat, and her hands bled from being scratched by pebbles, but she scooped up mud into both hands frantically.

Fearing that her scent might be detected by the creature, which had poor eyesight but a superior sense of smell, she shivered and hunched her body inward.

Splatch. Splatch.

She threw the mud she had scooped up with both hands all over her body. Choking out a groan, she smeared the clumped mud across herself. Only the obsessive thought of needing to survive occupied her mind, making her move nonstop like a chimera.

From her calves to her thighs, from her hands to her shoulders, she smeared it crazily. For the spots her hands couldn’t reach, she rolled directly on the ground to coat her entire body in mud. She buried both her neck and face deep into the mud.

As the sound of footsteps drew closer, she shoved her arms a bit deeper into the mud, hunched her trembling body, and held her breath.

Suddenly, a bright blue light flashed around her.

Flap. Something touched her top. Startled out of her wits, she shook her body like a spasm.

“Hush…”

Fuzzily opening her eyes, she caught a glimpse of something resembling a human hand.

That hand moved as if to wipe away the mud streaming down Elio’s face.

“You really went all out with the camouflage.”

A low voice tinged with laughter reached her ears.

Only when the large hand wiping her became caked in mud did Elio finally manage to see the face right in front of her.

“Ugh… You… bad… bad… guy. U-ugh…”

Without a word, Carlos wrapped her in his cloak and scooped her up into his arms.

“You’re a re… really bad person.”