Editing Lugal Gigam:Chapter 1 (section)

=== Part 2 ===

Her explanation stopped midway.

She suddenly looked up at the empty space,

And as if confirming the noise from far away, she looked at her arm.

“This is bad! It’s that guy!”

A trampling dizziness. Dorothy’s message in red once again appeared on her white skin.

‘’’’’It’s Coming! It’s Coming After Us!’’’’’

‘It’?...You don’t mean?

Kenny-san grabbed the Crossbow that was left leaning on the fence and put on her shoes. She side glanced at the bowstring pulled to its limit and I hastily stuck my head out of the handrail.

The darkness of the {{furigana|<Miasma>|Ni }} was too dense on roads under the moonlight. It wasn’t possible to foretell anything because it’s so dark.

“From the {{furigana|<Saint Tower>|Unil }}’s direction! On your left!”

A small voice from behind resounded. My gaze that turned almost instinctively caught onto arthropod legs that stretched from the darkness.

It was from the house diagonally opposite to ours.

The legs that are as thick as logs grabbed the handrails of the roof one after another. And the monstrous figure that looked as if it came straight from a nightmare pulled itself up on the roof at last.

A scorpion. An impossibly huge one at that.

“As I thought that thing’s way too huge……”

The size of its trunk alone was that of a mini-bus. The great round scissors smashed men like tofu and the carapace that glowed bluish under the moonlight could even neglect strikes from a great axe. The poison needle that extended from the tip of its coiled tail was even larger than a hook extended from a warehouse pulley.

“Looks like it didn’t come to return something we forgot huh? What a persistent bastard.”

“…….This is bad. It’s all set to turn us into sacrifices.”

But the strangest thing about it wasn’t its large size.

It was the human half that extended from the base of the great scissors, right about the jaws.

“The lord who ruleth over the holy {{furigana|<Fear>|Ni }}, rising even deeper from the depths of Abyss, O’ thou who divide mountains, he who protects the kingdom of the underworld, ‘The black Rampart’ Zarinnu….”

The grumbling prayers that the darkish man with a shaved head and tattoos all over his body could be imperceptibly heard.

My eyes suddenly met with its four white pupils.

It was laughing like a child that found a new toy. It had long lost its sanity.

{{furigana|<Scorpion-folk>| Giltabrul}}. 

A crossbreed {{furigana|<Synthetic Beast>|Chimera }} between man and scorpion using a powerful  {{furigana|<Truth>|Me }}

This guy was the one waiting for us in the treasury of <Ebadonigul> after we broke the seal.

Numbering 14 in total, a reckless group with no qualms about breaking taboos charged into {{furigana|<Saint Tower >|Unil }}. They recklessly attacked that thing that looked totally dangerous no matter how you put it, completely ignoring Kenny-san’s warnings. You could even say their greed was admirable in one way or another.

But, I can’t say that it was advisable behavior. Having the numerical advantage in a cramped space means nothing. Rather, it’s disadvantageous. I only counted till five of them got turned into minced meat after about 3 minutes.

I didn’t have the time to see through the end since I was busy carrying the wounded Laashi.IL out of there. 

“The scissors on the left and the right arm…looks like they did some damage.”

I don’t know what happened to the others of the investigation team but it looks like they at least inflicted a degree of injury to it.


There was a crack in the shell of the left scissors and two of the arthropod-legs were torn off in middle. Maybe it was broken as the right arm of the upper body was hanging nimbly.

But it wasn't enough. Its movement hadn't slowed down at all.

In other words, it would be quite difficult to run away now.

Shit, to think it'd chase us this far. Wasn't this guy supposed to be the gatekeeper of <Ebadonigul>?

How can we get away dammit!?

While aiming her crossbow, Kenny-san came near me and whispered,

"Take Laashi and run. If it's you, then you can do it!"

Yes. It's impossible, in two different levels.

"There's no point in trying to be a decoy. You'll just die a useless death against that guy."

Even if Kenny-san tries, the amount of time she can buy would most probably be very slight. He'll probably catch up before I can even reach a few blocks. Then it'll turn into the worst case scenario.

Probably the best choice here would be to run towards Kagushila at full speed together.

There's a risk of getting caught in the {{furigana|<Miasma >|Ni }} but if we're lucky then one of us might get out. And if we leave the unconscious Laashi then it's possible for 2 to escape.

But Kenny-san will definitely not do that. Tsk, despite having a foul mouth she cares too much about others.

She won't leave her comrade Laashi behind.

"Just shut up. I won't be using the usual dog-arrows this time. I'll definitely do it a special favor before it can get me. So hurry up and run!"

"You won't be able to shoot again while moving if you miss with that crossbow! It's not a Kamikaze! So please hit. I won't last long you know!"

I slowly step backwards towards the street while keeping my eyes on it.

I won't look away even for a second. That thing’s the same as a beast. Lock eyes with it once and before you know it, it’ll charge straight at you. If that happened than our slim chance at escaping will totally become zero.

Ah, geez! Even for me, it’s still too reckless.

That scorpion-folk isn’t something I can defeat. If we made a bar graph of the dangers, then it would definitely break through the roof.

But still, I can’t let this person die. Kenny-san has been looking after me a lot. Kagushila is a city full of ruffians.

But even that place has a line one must not cross. 

-I slowly concentrated my will power.

Just like how Kenny-san has her guardian angel, I also have a mean to protect myself.

It’s not something I had since birth. It was forcefully embedded in me in this <Kiengi>; I rather hated it.

But right now, I only had this to rely on. 

Mainly from the neck and through the spine, some masses of heat congealed. 

The foreign bodies that harmonised with me and he formless <Essences> of life and instinct.

It’s one of them that I need.

I roughly grasped the trick to awaken these formless <Essences>.

“{{furigana|< Forest Hunter>|Gilim Sua }}”

As a sighed, I received an image from that existence.

The awakened {{furigana|< Forest Hunter>|Gilim Sua }} touched my consciousness and blended in. 
The awakening also brought about physical changes.

I just can’t get used to this unpleasant feeling.

For example, if my consciousness could be compared to a lake than it feels like throwing a small animal in my surface of my consciousness. The reflected surface kept distorting with giant ripples.

Even after the ripples settle, the small animal keeps on swimming which creates small waves and my mind remains dim.

{{furigana|< Forest Hunter>|Gilim Sua }} is a hunter <Essence> from the cat family.

This fellow’s instincts are too ephemeral. It takes quite the effort even if I concentrate while it’s awake.

It gets distracted by things in the immediate vicinity so its thinking is too half-hearted. 

But a handicap like that is a small price to pay.

My perception sharpens dramatically. A tickle runs through the body like when numbness solves, and the flesh and tendons go through changes. <Aspect>, a black crest-like pattern pops out from under the skin.

And the body jolts 2 to 3 times as if to settle down.

.....Alright. It’s done.

“It’s impossible to bring it down. All I can do is to create an opening so I’m counting on you nyaa”

My legs cramped as I thought what to do nyext. One can’t fool oneself even if he tries to brush it off with jokes. But if my legs stop because of hesitation then that’s certainly the end.

“You idiot! Wait, Souya!”

The nyaa-lingo did not get through to the American Kenny at all.  Serious responses are is prohibited.

After running a few steps, I used the fence to jump.

Approximately three meters till reaching the flat roof at the edge of the street. Here is where Reed length width in the wind.

Since {{furigana|< Forest Hunter>|Gilim Sua }} is awake right now, it’s the same as striding.

I land like a cat using all fours.

And in a flash, a right hand accompanied by black gouging killing intent came flying.

Without stopping, I did a forward roll. A giant hole was drilled by that huge needle on the spot where I landed.

“That was close!!”

A cold shiver ran up my spine as if cold water was poured on it. Holy crap, that, it’ll be over even if it just grazed me.

I pulled out an iron hatchet from my back in a half kneeling position.

On top of costing a lot of money, it’s a thick item that took one month to reach completion.

But before that scorpion-folk in front of me, its profound heaviness seemed completely insignificant. I wonder if this is what they call Axe of the Praying mantis.

Confronting it head on, the pressure from this guy is overwhelming.

It was rushing over from the opposite roof while grinding its legs.

There was only a two meter gap between the roofs so it won’t be an obstacle for that guy. Raising its stomach while spreading both of the scissors wide, it drew near in a menacing manner to block my escape.

Cornering the prey, it’s the style of a hunter. It probably saw me as nothing but a small prey waiting to be killed.

Underestimating me!....Well actually I’m not so self-conceited to hold a grudge because of that. This situation, if it came down to this I would have prefered if you took me even more lightly as you can.
                                  
‘’’....O’ Lord Zarinnu. O’ ‘Black Rampart’. The gifts, The offering which is rich with life, the one summoned by the great sanctuary and fate, I shalt offer to thou......’’’’

“Quit joking! I’ll pass on being a sacrifice.” 

But while I say that, this fellow is the same as me.

A life handled as an object with ominous sorcery casted on,
	
『Dr.Frankenstein’s Monster』

This fellow who is serving a god in delight and me which got to keep his human appearance, I wonder which is the truly pleased one.

---Oh crap. This is the problem with {{furigana|<Forest Hunter>|Gilim Sua}}. I end up thinking about pointless stuff in seconds.

Concentrate! Concentrate!
 
It came within striking distance accompanied by the click-clack sounds of its arthropod legs, and it stood right in front of me.

“Shi-.....!!”

Already?! its timing.

I killed the impulse to run away screaming. My breathing stopped because of the tension and fear.

The face looking down at me from over three meters above, showed a smile like a child pricking the wings of an insect. 

The huge body moved while leaving afterimages of that delighted expression. It covered my field of view like a black avalanche, a simple movement to catch the prey.

The strike without any wasted movement had the touch of an expert.

Normally in this motionless position without any prior preparations, I would get clobbered without getting the chance to respond in front of the savage drawing near at maximum speed.

But it’s a different story now since {{furigana|<Forest Hunter>|Gilim Sua}} is awakened.

If I concentrate, I can achieve dynamic vision so powerful that my bodily sensations start to feel lagging behind since I’m furnished with reflexes capable enough to respond to that.

I leaped back from the wind tearing right-scissor coming in from the flank and while the chomping sound of the scissors reached my ears, I dodged the giant needle striking from above while bending my body.

Once again, the right scissor repeated. This time it was trying to mow down.

I barely threw down my body and rolled to the side to gain some distance.

Anyhow, we ended up where we started.

“Haa, Haa”

I exhaled the hot air that was accumulated in my lungs. It felt like I raised my face after dipping it in a washbasin.

After only once, I was already breathing hard after that short exchange of less than 5 seconds.

But-------Alright! I can see it!

When I first encountered these savage beasts in this wasteland, I learnt something. These beasts don’t play around when hunting.

The existence of prey is directly connected to life and death. That’s why, the movements they make during their attack is their Max-speed.

In other words, since I could dodge this one, I won’t at least lose in speed.

For me it’s like the last strand of hope, I could even smile to this.

In the end what affects carnage is one’s constitution.

No matter how much the lightweight me slashes at that thing, I don’t think I can even make it budge. 

On the other hand, all the enemy has to do is lightly brush his scissors.

That’s more than enough to send me flying like trash and the winner would be decided.

What’s left for me is waiting for death.

It might sound unfair but that’s the truth of battles.

Indecisive actions will lead to that sooner or later. If one wants to live, then there’s no other choice but to bet everything on keenness while not being outdone.

And that’s as soon as possible.

"Hey, what’s the matter Scorpion monster-freak? Are you even serious? It’s like you’re in slow motion.”

In any case, while taunting it, I turned my left hand behind my back and showed a thumbs-up.

It’s not like it was a blind escape. Our standing position where the previous rooftop which was separated by the avenue is now behind me.

[[File:Lugal Gigam Joukan P47.jpg|thumb]]

Currently the human part of the scorpion-folk should be completely visible from there.

It’s time, Kenny-san.

Rather than from a voice, the answer came as a piercing sound of a crossbow.

Ok. I did what I could.

It chased after me while leaving cracks of the roofs, like a replay of before.

Like a replay of before.

It reeled out its scissors like a huge iron lump. Swaying back at the last second, I saw the right scissor gouging the airspace before me.

Its tail came in like a whip. But I managed to dodge it by bending my body.

This is it! Matching the time when it dropped its guard just for a second to prepare the next attack, I jumped.

Forward!

Grabbing the thick tail above me with my left hand to jump and with my right hand I felt the weight of the hatched brandished.

“Drop deeaaaad!!!”

The fear from being cornered and the unwillingness to kick the bucket! Using the two impulses as strength, I slashed towards the cranium of the darkish scorpion-folk.

“Ugh!”
	
But the well-timed full powered strike was obstructed by its raised arm. The power was largely chipped away.

Though the hatched blade gouged into its left arm and bald head, it wasn’t deep enough to be fatal. Shit!

This is hopeless!
  
The hatched blade was stuck. Hopelessly letting it go, I kicked its stomach to jump backwards. The scorpion-folk whos face was now dyed red in blood was unexpectedly having a hard time dealing with its prey. It was even injured.

The completely upright upper body suddenly bent down.

Because of my heightened vision, I could see the moment when the crossbow arrow pierced its flank while leaving behind only the outlandish arrow-feathers on the outside.

Boom! The scorpion-folk’s flank burst open.

That misshapen arrow was Kenny-san’s trump card. That is, that ugly and thick arrow which is moulded into a shape of a person. By making the tip of the foot as the arrowhead, the bronze fetish which is the head and the torso is acting as the shaft. It is uglier than regular thick arrows and it is an item which would be even harder to make it fly straight. 
 
And the range isn’t long either.

But its axis has tightly engraved cuneiforms.

It was a {{furigana|<Truth>|Me}} of flame burst personally engraved by the great {{furigana|<Great Exorcist>|Mashyumash}}  Laashi.iL, and its power was tremendous.

And its power was tremendous.	

The explosion blew apart the scorpion-folk’s right chest and underarm, along with some internal organs.

The torn apart right arm flew in space, with the pieces of meat and spray of blood in motion. I looked at it with a feeling of self-satisfaction.

Hell yeah! It freaking worked! Now, time to scram! I’m outta here!

But the next moment, as if abandoning my previous thoughts right there, my body also flew in the air.
	
“Ugh.....uh....!!”

Crack! The sounds of bone thoroughly being broken resounded in my brain. And all my senses blew apart, immediately, at that limit breaking anguish.

I only realized after being blasted away like a torn rag that the scorpion-folk, without caring about its wound on the upper body used its left scissor to mow me down.

And a pain as if my body was being torn to pieces hit me as soon as I understood what happened. My mouth tasted like iron as blood spewed out.

My lung is probably filled with blood and the acute pain is killing me.

Both the inside and outside of my body seemed to have turned into a giant mass of pain so I can’t quite measure how much damage was done.

The link keeping my body and mind together is breaking apart. My body won’t respond to my will. It looks like all of my cells have been hijacked by pain.

All my body’s doing is convulsing in pain, I can’t even lift a finger.

“Souya! Stand up! Get out of there!”

Sorry. That’s impossible. I messed up.

Though I can’t even speak right now. All I can do now is look up with a blurred vision and pant.

That’s my limit.

The patterns on my skin are changing, it looks like snake scales now. {{furigana|< Hydra >| Mushyumaph }}’s <Aspect> was activated and it tried to fasten my life. The Greek mythological beast, the Lernaean Hydra. It’s said that even if you cut off one of its heads another one will grow to take its place. With its great regenerative abilities it started to heal my wounds.

The {{furigana|< Forest Hunter >| Gilim Sua }} retreated already. An <Essence> that only possessed ‘instinct’ was quite sensitive to life crisis.
 
In the worst case scenario, the {{furigana|< Hydra >| Mushyumaph }}’s <Aspect> pushes aside other activated <Aspects> and activates itself automatically.

My bodily sensations became a bit dulled, but the pain started to fade too. If the doctors from the modern age saw the {{furigana|< Hydra >| Mushyumaph }}’s regenerative power then without a doubt they’d dissect me for experiments.

But...I don’t think {{furigana|< Hydra >| Mushyumaph }} will finish in time.

The sky above was filled with stares scattered like the grains of sand and a full moon.

But the scorpion-folk popped in my line of vision.

Its human portion was leaking entrains, both arms were turned into scrap and the wound on its head was still spilling fresh blood.

「…… O’ Lord Zalinnu. Thy prophecy hath been fulfilled. I congratulate thy blessings, I dedicate thy offerings......」
	
The poisonous needle above its expressionless face was starting to vibrate.

In Babylon, people died like trash. Will that also happen to me? Me too?

In the middle of nowhere? Without being able to return home?

“Ugh......”

Disappointment and solitude welled up in my chest uncontrollably. I killed the urge to cry out.

Why on a day like this? What the hell did I do to deserve this?

Dad, Mum. Sakura. Sorry. I won’t be coming back.

Ahh~ Just once is fine. I just wanna go back home, and say “I’m back”, and have a nice meal with my family.

But the shinigami’s needle didn’t come down no matter how long I waited. As I gazed up, I saw that the scorpion-folk wasn’t looking at me, but the southeastern sky.

Why? What happened?

I managed to turn my neck bearing the sharp pain enough to make me scream.

And I was finally able to see it.

A star? no. Fire? But the radiation is too much for that.

A vivid mad red coloured light was burning with the starry sky in the background brighter than even the stars themselves.

The surrounding clouds reflected the red light as if in only that corner of the sky dusk descended.

That’s around Kagushila.

I know that, there’s no way I wouldn’t know it. That was her {{furigana|< Radiance >| Meram }} The gods living in <Kiengi>, Nepheel’s wear, the aura of the gods.


It’s Raquell.

“.....Ask thou to name thyself, <Wings of Twilight>, ‘O great {{furigana|< Radiance >| Meram }}…”

The scorpion-folk was muttering as usual, he seemed to have been taken in by that scorching brilliance.

And then its blank expression looked down towards me. For the first time I could see a movement there- it was hesitation.
 
I gathered up all my willpower one last time and returned a glare. I was bluffing.

Even for me that’s too egoistic. Now that there’s a hope of survival, I just don’t want to let that fellow witness a pathetic side of me.

It felt like an eternity, but actually only a few moments passed.

Then.... the scorpion-folk stepped back.

As I followed its movements, it just moved towards the edge of the roof and jumped down from the fence. Just like that, it just left and vanished.

The click-clack sound of the arthropod legs could still be heard from the other side of the darkness.

I suddenly realized.

Ah! AAAHHH! W-Wait a goddamn minute! At least return that hatched stuck to your left hand! No, I mean, please give it back.

I beg you.

Of course my selfish request didn’t reach it and soon even the sounds dissipated.

The tension abruptly vanished, and all strength left my body. I sighed peacefully. But that’s all it took to jolt up my chest in sharp pain.

“Argh.....ugh....ouch....”

Ah, I lived. No rather, I was saved, by Raquell.

“Oi! Are you still alive?!”

Anyhow I raised my unharmed left hand and signalled Kenny-san on the opposite roof that I was okay.

“Are you okay--?”

Thumbs Up confirmation. But being beat up to this point, I’ll probably take 2 to 3 hours to recover enough to move.

“Hey that was a really close one right? Did you see that light? That guy ran away with its tail behind its legs. That was Goddess-sama right? So you really did have her grace! Ahahaha!” 

That’s right I guess. But I’m conflicted as I said before that I didn’t really need to rely on her. I’ll have to silence Kenny-san again before we head back to Kagushila.

As I turned to look again, the blazing light from before had already disappeared.

It hasn’t been even a few minutes since the battle started but the Eastern sky had already become a bit pale.

It was daybreak.

It was daybreak.

There was no place for dusk in the dawn sky.

Soon the dazzling sun will rise from the horizon and the drifting <Miasma> will also dissipate, following the night.

By then I’ll probably recover enough to walk.

But the main problem comes after that. Just how should I face her?

Should I be mad? Or should I thank her?...well, whatever. But wait, there’s still more. I’ll think of a solution while I lie here.

And after I decide on something, let’s head back to Kagushila.

Back to that noisy city, where that girl, the little goddess will come to receive me. To the only place I can call home right now.