「... They are not the ones you must take responsibility for.」

A sobbing voice begged me.

「So please don't mind them. There is no reason for you to serve any longer. Please...」

Yes, it was begging. Earnestly pleading for me to please look away.

Solely hoping that I would rest, hoping that I would no longer be in pain.

But...

* * *

SPLASH!

["Aaaaaagh!"]

On top of the turtle, the carapace.

Finding it difficult to handle the disadvantages of fighting barehanded in a limited area on relentlessly shaking ground, the Fighter, who had inevitably moved her battlefield to the carapace, caught her breath.

The corpses piled up with every step she took were created solely by her two hands.

"Phew."

Hot breath was exhaled from her chapped lips. Jingle. The earring hanging on one side swung roughly like a pendulum, letting out a distinct metallic sound.

GRRRR!

Meanwhile, a newly added enemy from changing battlefields lunged at her from behind. They were monsters created by the demonization of all sorts of bugs, sea cucumbers, sea anemones, and clams.

SMACK!

Of course, most of them kindly died while regurgitating their innards if hit hard enough, so there was no need to pay them much mind.

["Come here. Come here!!"]

SCURRY SCURRY.

Rather, the ones she had to pay attention to were these. The Sirens that had been there from the start, sea roaches, and crab-like demons.

The first was originally a demon, so its danger went without saying; the second was a pain because palm-sized bugs would stick all over her body and suck her blood. The third was a problem because they were too hard and indistinguishable from the surrounding rocks.

Therefore, rather than aiming to take no injuries at all, she focused on reducing the enemy numbers while giving up what she had to give up.

She threw away the common sense that severe bleeding meant she couldn't fight for long. Fights within the bounds of common sense were not the specialty of Norda warriors.

SLASH!

Dodging only as much as necessary, claw marks were carved into her forearm, and her hand clutching a rock smashed into the Siren's face.

Having a brain inside its head, the humanoid demon momentarily staggered.

She couldn't miss an opening like this. She took a large step closer into the Siren's guard.

By doing so, the attacks of other entities were blocked, and her fingers dug into the Siren's mouth. Hooking her thumbs into both sides of its mouth, the hands gripping its head applied force and pulled outward.

["Aaaaaagh!!"]

Within her grip, the Siren's scalp was ripped right off. The blood that spurted from it painted a certain berserker's body once more.

SMACK!

Then, with her innate physical strength, she grabbed the half-dead Siren and swung it around.

The wings scraping across the ground swept away the mutated sea roaches, and its torso crashed into another entity that was caught hesitating. The two Sirens plummeted amicably.

"Is this all you've got, you birdbrains!!"

However, the enemies were still numerous, and she needed more blood.

She roughly swept off the sea roaches crawling up her body, and to deny them time to climb back up, she jumped straight off the ground.

SCRAPE.

And just as she was about to land, the crab that had been pretending to be a rock abruptly stood up and spread its pincers wide.

The size of the pincers alone was massive enough to grab a human, so she by no means ignored it. If caught wrong, her waist would easily be snapped in half.

TAP!

So, with a light bound, she stepped on the pincer and leaped up again. The pincer clamped shut half a beat too late. THUD. Her body landed right on top of the crab shell that had dared to try and catch her.

CRACK!

With the penalty of being barehanded, she couldn't pierce the carapace to attack. Did she have to just let the enemy go, then? That wasn't it either.

Just as she had targeted the Siren's soft mouth, she grabbed its protruding eyestalks and yanked them right out.

The crab demon flailed its pincers wildly in agony, but doing so wouldn't bring back its already plucked eyes.

Having finished her bare minimum of business, her body turned toward another enemy. Aiming at her, a sea cucumber monster vomited something. Even the slightest contact with the bright yellow liquid caused flesh to sizzle and melt.

But she could dodge that much. Twisting her body like an acrobat, she landed to avoid the vomit, and swung her foot at a razor clam shooting up from that spot.

The thin shell shattered, and the razor clam's plump innards split vertically, baring its teeth.

The razor clam's bifurcated body slammed into the spot she occupied like tentacles.

["Come with me, come with me!"]

At that moment, a Siren with folded wings dive-bombed toward her. Of course, not wanting to crash into a carapace that was practically a boulder, its wings spread wide right before impact were truly massive.

"Ha!"

But what did it matter if it dove so well? Its talons had failed to snatch her.

Kicking off the ground, her body passed over the Siren's shoulder and landed safely on its back. CRUNCH. Her strong grip grabbed the Siren's arm, which was also its wing.

["Gyaaaaagh!!"]

With a CRUNCHING sound, the joint was finally snapped. BAM! Add a kick to that, and the bone piercing through the skin was a trivial matter.

Having broken the Siren's wing, she kept her foot on the fallen Siren and completely crushed its head.

SKITTER SKITTER.

A tone similar to crashing waves scraped her ears. It was the sound of swarming sea roaches surging in like a black wave.

Even as she quickly pulled back, a few inevitably ended up clinging to her body.

Through the black veins that bulged like scars due to the demonic energy corruption, the sea roaches stubbornly clung on and sucked her blood.

SQUELCH!

It didn't even tickle. Whether the sea roaches' teeth were embedded in her skin or not, she roughly tore them off, threw the bugs onto the ground, and stomped on them.

The sea roaches' guts burst, and blood spurted from her own skin as well.

"Bring it on!"

["Don't go..."]

["You can't go..."]

At that point, it was rather the demons—limited to those with the intelligence to think—who retreated and protected their bodies.

One who fights while soaking her whole body in blood, be it her own or others', proving her valor through it: a Berserker.

Even the demons grew sick of the madness befitting that name.

Demons might be highly violent, but their reason to think wasn't completely deleted, so in a way, it was an obvious result.

"Ha!"

But such a sight was exactly what she had aimed for, and what her name demanded.

Because combat, by its nature, was half won the moment you broke the enemy's morale.

"Cowards!"

On the other hand, the demons were laughable. Indeed, she was all alone yet going on such a wild rampage, so what was the point of them, the ones with overwhelming numbers, backing off in fear?

Such a thing hadn't happened even during the inter-tribal conflict she fought in when she was 17. Back then too, she had to kill fifty warriors alone, but at least those fifty hadn't cowered in fear! It was only after all fifty had died that the tribesmen trembled in terror!

CRASH!

Just then, the turtle's massive body, led by the snake, completely climbed onto the land and stopped its steps. Whenever its head soared, fierce waves surged from the sea.

SWOOSH!

Water that had climbed the highlands in an impossible shape completely flooded the canals and the surrounding land.

SHRIEK!

GRRR.

The Mermen were the ones who thrived on this.

Riding the seawater in, the Mermen sprayed acid all over to melt away useless structures, and gathered the human corpses to chop them to pieces.

Considering most of the corpses scattered around belonged to soldiers or adventurers who had fought valiantly, it was a massive insult.

Enough to make even her—someone with the mindset of 'who cares about a dead body buried under the snow?'—furrow her brows.

SPIT!

Furthermore, they gathered the mutilated bodies and built towers. Not just in one place, but multiple places!

Should she slaughter them? She had zero interest in the afterlife, but that seemed to lack honor, respect, or even basic decency.

A slight deliberation took place in her mind.

'I'm in favor.'

Someone agreed.

THUD!

"-?!"

However, as the turtle that seemed like it would advance endlessly also collapsed to the ground, her impulse could not be carried out.

CRACK. Something popped out from the holes between the carapace, which had been hidden by all sorts of seaweed and coral reefs.

They were all Mermen with heavily bloated bellies.

"...!"

And those Mermen approached the corpse piles and jammed their tails inside. The wriggling of their tails looked like nothing else but laying eggs.

Disgustingly, those damn things' goal was not just to drive the humans out, but also to build their nests on this land.

And inside the corpses of the enemies who had fought so fiercely at that!

"... Demons!"

However, did she just have to sit back and watch? Even as she felt her reasoning slowly blurring due to demonic energy corruption, she clearly distinguished her target.

Kill.

Kill all of those things trying to lay eggs.

Her bloodshot, reddened eyes locked perfectly onto the target through a mind dizzy as if intoxicated.

What she aimed for wasn't the ones that had already come out, but the ones yet to emerge from the holes. Namely, the damn things still hiding inside the turtle's carapace.

Her body slid right into the rotting, decaying beast's shell.

'Will this be our grave?'

"It's an honor!"

'Will our corpses become their nests too?'

"Ha!"

Rotten flesh and pooled blood soaked her ankles.

"I will kill more than the demons that will be born from my body!"

She gripped the stone.

* * *

'Well. Is there really no reason to intervene when the Hero that guy cherishes so much is dying? Do you think so too, Gretchen?'

「You!!」

'The Hero, the innocent citizens, and many others anyway are dying at this very moment.'

「Shut your mouth right—」

'Can you really just sit still?'

* * *

When was the last time she felt like she was burning herself up?

When she hunted the dragon in the Western Sea? When the Demon Knight rampaged in front of her? Or when she protected the castle walls, or made stepping stones up into the sky above the clouds.

Or maybe, right now.

She eventually created a golden barrier to block the demons. She knew it was a tremendous strain, but it was still fine.

When others were risking their lives, it was unjust for her, the one with the greatest duty, not to risk hers.

["My goodness, you dare to care about something else while fighting me? Is that it!?"]

Along with cackling laughter, thunder struck loudly. CRASH, BOOM! From behind, a volcano she had only ever seen in picture books erupted in real time, hurtling volcanic bombs down onto the ground.

The heat piercing through the protection of the dragon scale armor was so extreme that she had to put effort even into breathing.

It felt as though the insides of her lungs were burning.

["You're young, you're so young!"]

In that moment, the lava giant brought its arm crashing down. Missing one arm, the giant was still thoroughly threatening with the remaining one.

CRASH!

But when it came to running, she had rigorously trained for it when hunting Moby Dick.

Dodging the hand descending from above, she ran as if her leg muscles would tear. Just as she felt like her lungs were right below her throat, her feet barely escaped the hand's reach.

SPLAT!

As the price, the lava crushed under her foot splattered everywhere. The armor imbued with divine power effortlessly blocked the immediate heat, but no one knew how long that would last.

CLANG!

Moreover, there was even an attack thrusting through the exquisite opening. She somehow blocked it with her greatshield.

SLASH! SLASH, SWISH! Perhaps because it had three pairs of arms, a three-hit combo followed without a moment of pause.

Because there were many places to inject her divine power into, she had poured less into the shield, making the incoming force quite heavy.

"...!"

But the enemy's attack didn't end there. The ground bulged up, throwing off the Inquisitor's balance.

Volcanic bombs were behind her, and in front of her was a demon that could relentlessly strike using the advantage of its multiple arms.

The Inquisitor fiercely furrowed her brow.

CRASH!

Surfaces don't always have to be flat and broad. In that regard, pushing away everything in all directions in a spherical shape was something she could do, not just the Demon Knight.

Even if divine power was literally just at the level of pushing away, compared to demonic energy which unintentionally ground up its surroundings due to its densely packed linear structure.

"Hup!"

However, she had figured that much out early on. Along with the fact that her body wasn't fixed in place while expelling energy spherically to knock enemies back.

As for precedents, the Demon Knight had left countless behind.

Thus, the Inquisitor steadily executed what she had learned. Aside from the energy spreading in all directions, she swung her shield.

The demon, who had only been pushed back one step thanks to its strong demonic energy, was hit by the shield with a slicing sound.

By the Inquisitor swinging the shield so that its narrow edge became the contact surface, its flesh was gouged rather than just gashed.

["Not bad?"]

But the enemy wasn't such a pushover either. Moving its arm in that brief moment, the one who caught the shield reached its fingers toward her.

CLANG CLANG CLANG. The Inquisitor's instincts rang alarm bells.

CRASH!

"...!"

She rolled and dodged by a hair's breadth. Recalling the flash of light that had almost pierced her head, the Inquisitor moved her tingling body.

It was the trace of lightning having come and gone in that split second.

The spots where she had haphazardly applied divine power were sizzling and burning due to the lava that had seeped through the armor while she rolled.

["But still clumsy."]

The Inquisitor restored only her nerves and muscles, standing up while leaving the skin burns as they were.

STAB.

"...!"

Her thigh was pierced by rising thorns.

"Eek!"

The pain of her flesh being punctured and her muscles cooking was beyond words.

But by God's grace, the Inquisitor was one of the most accustomed to burning pain in the world. She could endure this much.

She forced her feet forward. It was truly fortunate that the lava was removed upon contacting divine power.

The speed at which the demon's thorns grew was quickly overtaken by the speed at which she removed the thorns, mended her flesh, and advanced.

RUMBLE!

Had she overcome one trial that way? This time, a spiked ball rolled fiercely from a diagonal front.

CRASH!

The spiked ball collided with the greatshield, causing friction. STAB! Damn thorns shot up everywhere she walked. SPLAT SPLAT. Human-shaped golems rising from the lava were an added bonus.

Every direction was the enemy itself.

SMACK!

Among them, the first thing the Inquisitor aimed for was the lava man. She twisted her waist and struck the lava man behind her. Its head exploding from the mace, the lava man scattered just like that.

Having destroyed its demonic energy core, it wouldn't rise again unless it made another one.

She consecutively destroyed the spiked ball with strong force, then removed the thorns and moved once again.

How on earth did the Demon Knight fight this? He wouldn't have had a shield or the power to purify the lava. Vaguely thinking of him struggling made her feel sorrowful.

CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!

However, to be worrying about someone else's vessel, her own vessel was already full enough of adversity and hardship. The Inquisitor somehow struggled to hold on against the pouring attacks.

Perhaps because she wasn't the type to fight agilely, her method was to purify, block, and recover from most things using divine power.

["How truly pathetic."]

The problem was precisely that. She was devoting about two-thirds of her available divine power to that barrier.

The Inquisitor was instantly backed into a corner.

["How can you accomplish anything whining like that, unable to choose one or the other? The power of God can't be limitless, and there must be a limit to the power you can mobilize at once."]

She couldn't deny it.

The more she used the power of God, the more the amount of divine power she could endure increased, but it still wasn't limitless in any aspect.

The amount of divine power the vessel known as her could fill at once was limited, and the amount of power that would replenish whenever the vessel emptied would also run out eventually—or more accurately, the vessel known as her would shatter.

In such a situation, having reduced her mobilizable power to one-third for the sake of maintaining the barrier...

Realistically, one had to see that there was little she could do. Because with merely one-third of her power, there was a high chance she could only endure, let alone kill a Great Demon.

"You are right."

But this flesh and soul had been bestowed from the beginning to be used like this, so what did it matter if she used them that way?

"However, that is my calling."

["You don't know the meaning of efficiency. That you are more precious than humans like those."]

"I've heard that talk plenty of times. But they are neither ones who have resolved themselves to be sacrificed, nor are they ones who told me to do my job while they buy time."

"Just save more people. Human lives cannot be measured in value, so let us at least tally the visible numbers to make a decision."

Someone in the Temple had said that, and she acknowledged that it was 'efficient'. But...

"And in the scriptures I read, it said not to abandon such people."

God had never said that was 'right'. She too had never considered it 'the right thing to do'.

Then, if God's and her opinions aligned like that, wasn't it her duty to joyfully follow it?

"Also, who said that? That there is nothing I can do?"

["... Ha!"]

"I will defeat you. I will absolutely destroy you! That is my job!"

SMACK! Another approaching lava man died, and the spiked ball and fireballs were smashed to pieces.

Her whole body, burned by lava and fried by lightning, shed dead skin and sprouted new flesh every time it was struck.

"I will defeat you. I will absolutely destroy you! That is my job!"

["... Ha!"]

Her blackened body shone pure white once again.

"By the authority of a Heresy Inquisitor, I shall now execute the death penalty upon heresy!"

In tune with that, the divine power that seemed to be dying down swelled up a little more. Even that would be boundlessly insufficient to turn the tide, but still.

["Right. Well, the more foolishly you act, the more it benefits me, so it's not a matter for me to care about."]

Moreover, the one the Inquisitor was facing was a demon who didn't care about saving face, enough to switch the battle back to long-range the moment he took damage in close combat.

["Since it's come to this, shall we make a bet?"]

"...?!"

["The condition is simple. The moment you withdraw that barrier, your comrade dies!"]

Lava surged up from behind Pandemonium, then immediately flowed cleanly away. What remained in its place was now a round cocoon like an egg.

["It will be quite entertaining!"]

CRACK. The cocoon broke, revealing someone bound with their entire body encased in rock.

Learning the whereabouts of the Demon Knight she had been so worried about, the Inquisitor's eyes flew wide open.

* * *

'... Yeah.'

'I guess... I just can't sit still.'

* * *

CRACKLE.

Without anyone knowing, someone's finger twitched.