Published: March 21, 2026
"Hey, hero! It went that way!! Quit lollygagging!"
"Don't order me around!"
Breathing hard, the hero shouted without turning to look at me as he dropped to his knees.
He stood up with an annoyed shout.
Was he always this sluggish?
I shook my head, thinking it through.
Come to think of it, this might be the first time I've fought alongside him.
No—it's not just might; it's definitely the first time.
In the Cantinen Labyrinth he fought on the front lines while I hid near the rear, and during the minotaur battle he had both arms disabled and had fallen back into the barrier before I arrived.
"Kyousuke! Don't scratch the horns we're going to use for materials!"
"Got, got it!!"
Right now, our combat party—me, the hero, Kyousuke and Mr. Zeal—are gathering the materials needed to cross the continent, a request from Noah.
Amaryllis, who can tell the worth of herbs, and Amelia, who was bored, took on the relatively safe tasks like gathering herbs and non-demonic-beast items, so our job as the combat unit was primarily to procure materials that come from demonic beasts.
That said, this isn't an easy task.
This forest is the closest to the Demon Clan territory.
The monsters here are tougher than the ones on the deepest floors of the labyrinth.
For example, the creatures attacking us now look like boars with huge horns on their heads.
They charge headlong; when they spot anyone entering their territory they lower their horns and rush straight ahead.
If one of those massive horns skewered you you'd be done for.
In fact, a tree trunk so big that neither of my arms could have wrapped around it was uprooted from the ground by the shock when a horn hit it.
The beast easily pulled the large tree, which was stuck on its horn, out by shaking its head, then turned back toward us.
Perhaps because it impales its prey, it seemed to have particularly strong neck muscles.
I could read its swift charge, but could the hero and the others?
"Akira-kun! We'll act as bait to open a gap—sever its neck!!"
While I was wondering what to do, Mr. Zeal shouted that to me.
When it comes to giving orders, Mr. Zeal, who had served as Vice Captain of the knights order, was more experienced than I was.
Back at night, Amelia moves however I like without me needing to give instructions, so this kind of coordinated action is something I haven't done since training at the castle.
That's probably why Mr. Zeal asked me to finish it off.
Among us, I'm the least accustomed to coordination, and I'm the one who can actually kill this monster.
"Understood."
I thought that through in an instant and used presence concealment.
If we don't need to coordinate, there's no reason for me to remain visible.
Noticing the place to move now that I had disappeared, the hero, Kyousuke, and Mr. Zeal suddenly moved with better timing and drove the beast into a spot where the trees would obstruct its mobility.
Now it was my job.
"Shadow magic—activate. Shadow Kagome."
Our shadows, and the shadows cast by the trees that blocked the sun, gathered at the monster's feet and drew a kagome pattern.
A monster of this size could feed us for days, but since we have a base and don't need the meat, I mercilessly tore the beast apart.
After the shadows withdrew, only a lump of meat lay sinking into the ground.
"Hey, the horn—!"
The hero cried in panic, but fell silent when he saw me step out holding the horn.
Of course, I hadn't forgotten about the materials.
I had set that horn aside right before using shadow magic.
After confirming the battle was over and no other monsters were nearby, we let our shoulders drop.
Maybe because it had been chopped up, the smell of blood and death filled the air.
We should move out of here quickly.
"Well, this should make it clear, Akira-kun. You are fundamentally not suited to coordination."
We scraped the sap off nearby tree bark to clean the blood from our blades.
Ideally you'd wipe them with a soft cloth and then inspect them, but using a clean cloth out here feels wrong, and we can't carry around blood-soaked fabric.