Blood and Bone

The great hall was… in a word, eerie.

Human bones were scattered in heaps.

The skulls had been gathered in one place, displaying the sheer number of victims.

So many people must have died here.

"Nasty hobby. Showing off the scraps from their meals by scattering them around."

"The smell is terrible too. It reeks of beast and blood."

I was already sick of the air I'd been breathing since opening the door.

It filled the entire hall.

Not as bad as the smell of decay, but still enough to make me feel ill.

I followed behind Jill as she advanced.

There were so many bones that there was nowhere to step without treading on them. Each step made a crunching sound.

It wasn't just bones. Red liquid coated the floor.

Blood, perhaps? I didn't feel like checking.

I silently apologized for stepping on them as we arrived at the massive door leading to the throne room.

But no matter how hard we pulled, it wouldn't budge.

Even Jill with her tremendous strength couldn't move it, let alone Yohane or Iefuda.

Looking closely, there was a keyhole.

"Looks like they won't let us through easily."

Iefuda pointed his thumb toward the edge of the great hall.

Something was there. In the shadows, the figure was hard to see.

On all fours, eating something.

It spat something out. Bones.

Then it slowly emerged from the shadows.

… A large tiger.

But unlike a normal tiger, it was covered in jet-black fur, with red eyes streaming blood-like tears.

The blood coating the floor apparently came from that tiger.

There weren't even normal monsters here.

Just eerie creatures that were somehow wrong. I cursed inwardly.

The tiger approached slightly and slowly lowered its head.

… I'd seen cats make the same posture.

It was crouching to pounce.

"Do it, Jill."

"Okaaay."

Jill and the tiger moved at the same time.

The tiger leaped like a cannonball, mouth open wide to bite Jill.

Jill blocked the bite by pressing the hilt of her sword against the tiger's teeth.

The tiger lifted Jill along with her sword, shook its head, and flung her.

No matter how strong Jill was, her weight was exactly what it appeared, and even with the sword, the tiger tossed her effortlessly.

Flung violently toward a wall, Jill twisted her body mid-air, landed feet-first against the wall, and kicked off to charge at the tiger again.

It was like watching Finn perform acrobatics.

"Yohane. Can you provide support?"

"No, I didn't bring any magic stones, so I'm useless in combat."

"Same as me. I've already used up all my talismans."

Iefuda smiled sardonically, pulled out a cigarette, and leisurely started smoking.

He didn't even seem worried.

True, that girl Jill was quite skilled.

But that tiger was a terrifying creature too, so wasn't he concerned?

When I asked, Iefuda exhaled cigarette smoke with evident relish.

"If Jill loses, we die anyway. So worrying is pointless. The secret to enjoying life is not worrying about things that are pointless to worry about."

"How can you be so carefree?"

"I've done everything I can and I'm waiting for fate. I've done my part."

The battle between Jill and the tiger continued.

The greatsword cut through the air and swung down at the tiger, but despite its bulk, it dodged nimbly.

The moment any opening appeared, the tiger bared its front claws and swiped.

A scratch appeared on Jill's cheek, and red blood trickled down her pure white skin.

… Jill was smiling.

She looked like she was having the time of her life.

She was definitely different from Azu.

Jill kicked the tiger from directly below, forcing its head upward.

She did a backflip, her skirt fluttering gracefully.

Then, faster than the tiger could move, she gripped her greatsword and thrust straight forward.

She drove it into the tiger's belly and kept pushing.

The momentum didn't stop until she pinned the tiger to a pillar.

The tiger's tongue hung loose, blood overflowing from its belly.

Just when it seemed decided, the tiger's face turned toward Jill.

Then it sprayed blood from its mouth onto her.

"Ah, I can't see!"

With her vision stolen, Jill hurriedly pulled out the greatsword and swung it wildly.

But the moment it was freed, the tiger leaped away from her.

Jill stopped swinging and tried to wipe the blood from her eyes with her hands.

At that instant, the charging tiger tackled her to the ground.

The sound of Jill landing on blood and bones.

Entrails spilled from the tiger's opened belly and fell onto Jill.

"… It's looking at us."

"Yeah. Seems like it wants to eat us first since we'd be more filling."

The tiger bolted toward us.

Yohane raised his torch.

But the tiger showed no fear of fire whatsoever.

Watching it run toward us, spilling blood and entrails, was like watching a nightmare.

Yohane thought all was lost.

Iefuda reached into his breast pocket and rummaged for something.

"Hey, Yohane. You'll cover the expenses if we get out of here, right?"

"I'll pay whatever you want!"

I shouted instead of screaming, and Iefuda said "Don't forget" as he pulled a small box with a string attached from his pocket.

"Run as far as you can!"

He pressed his cigarette to the string, then shoved the box into the charging tiger's belly.

Then he sprinted away at full speed. His escape skills were as sharp as ever.

Yohane practically tumbled out of the way and ran as instructed.

It hurt hitting bones and I was covered in blood, but this wasn't the time to worry about that.

The tiger turned toward Yohane.

I'd barely dodged last time, but there'd be no escaping the next attack.

The tiger crouched again and the moment it charged, it exploded.

Blood and flesh scattered everywhere, and entrails splattered onto Yohane's cheek.

"Looks like even a monster can't survive an explosion in its gut. Hahaha, you look great."

"Shut up. Tell me if you have something like that beforehand."

"Hey, hey. We're not that close."

I wiped off the blood and entrails stuck to me.

The only silver lining was that my nose had gone numb and I couldn't smell anything.

"It's over. How boring."

Jill got up.

She had wounds on her shoulder where the tiger had grabbed her.