“We’ll Definitely Come Back to Save You!” — It’s Been Three Years Since I Was Left in the Most Difficult Dungeon, Isn’t It About Time for Help to Arrive...? - 72-73

Chapter 72: Repentance

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Just when I thought I’d seized a chance to neutralize Ripley, what I was actually handed was a blazing-red losing ticket. The Domagros, drunk on hatred toward me, forgot even how to stop themselves. They came to take my life, willing to rake one another with those thick, pointed claws if it brought them closer.

“…I guess I have no choice.”

I leapt back to avoid the storm of thrusts, then surged forward the moment a Domagros lifted one leg to advance. We closed the distance as if drawn together, and I slipped into the inside of its reach where the claws were harder to use.

If there was any blessing in misfortune, it was that with their sheer numbers the leading Domagros couldn’t turn quickly. It allowed my intrusion all too easily, and collapsed before the sword I drove into its belly.

That much was fine. The problem was from here on. Surrounded on all sides, with others pressing from the outside to make sure I didn’t escape—how was I supposed to handle this predicament…?

“―You don’t have the luxury to worry about such trash!”

In that brief clash, Ripley had already gotten back to her feet and regained her stance. She charged straight ahead, kicking aside anything between us as she came.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…!?”

I barely bent back in time to evade the carcass of a monster hurled my way, then blocked Ripley’s fist—aimed to skewer me—with my palm.

“Give it up already, you fake Athos! I don’t care if you’re the Demon Lord or whatever, you’re pathetic clinging on like this!”

“I told you I’m not the Demon Lord! I’m here to save you, so just behave for once!”

I should have pinned down her fist right there, but suddenly her strength surged and the balance flipped against me.

“…Save me? Spare me the nonsense! I won’t be anyone’s burden anymore! Never again will I be left behind…!”

“…Ripley?”

Seeing the distortion on her face, my grip faltered. Her fist broke free and slammed into my stomach. The pain was real. But more than that, what shocked me most was realizing something within me had painted her face with such grief.

“…Back then, I should have stayed, even if it was just me… I should have fought by his side…! Instead, I dumped all those selfish expectations—‘Athos will be fine’—onto him… and he… All alone…”

On her knees, breath ragged, her eyes swallowed in darkness, Ripley cried out her repentance in sobs that thrashed like a dirge. The wailing shook me to my core, flooding my mind completely.

“…I’m sorry for leaving you…! I’m sorry for letting you die! I’m sorry for being weak! I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry…!!!”

At that moment, I realized I had overlooked something very precious inside them all this time.

Come to think of it, it had been the same with Midi. Misled by lies, she had drowned in guilt and self-reproach, shedding tears, begging forgiveness. That unbearably tragic sight had stabbed through my chest.

But—wasn’t the greatest cause of their madness none other than me myself? Had I ever truly considered that my death as a person would carve itself this deeply into their hearts?

“Kururuaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

I glanced to the side and saw a Domagros lunging to finish us both while we were motionless. I should have put on a defense stance. I should have protected Ripley. But my body wouldn’t move at all.

The next instant, an impact rocked my body.

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Chapter 73: One More Time

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“―Abyss Flare…!”

Blazing fire tore through my clouded vision. Against the Domagros, which had resistance to magic, the strike itself meant nothing. But here and now, what mattered most was the fact that magic had flown through the air.

“That just now was…”

―Whoosh!

Through the vision glittering with magical residue, a vivid pair of blue-violet wings slashed across the face of a slightly shaken Domagros, knocking it out of sight while dragging several more along with it.

“…So it really was Ripley just now… Coming back was the right choice…”

“I’d like you to consider the trouble of being sent back and forth over and over… But well, it can’t be helped.”

The two who should have been heading toward the exit with the egg instead forced their way in between me and the Domagros.

“You guys…!? Why did you come back! I told you I’d hold the rear—”

“…Athos, look around you… Do you really think you can suppress this many monsters and handle Ripley at the same time? Normally speaking… Normally speaking…”

At that point, Midi seemed to realize something, her lips pressing tight as she groaned.

“It’s so complicated that I can even think ‘But maybe this man could pull it off…’ But you understand, don’t you, Athos? That this isn’t the best course right now?”

“That’s… But if I don’t protect you, my companions—”

The words slipped from me unconsciously, and I was shaken. Was it the three years that had done this? Without realizing it, I had come to see my companions as nothing more than people I had to protect.

“…Athos is right. We… The moment we left you behind back then, we stopped being equals. It’s only natural you don’t trust us anymore…”

“…That’s not…”

Seeing me falter, Midi gripped her staff with melancholy and began channeling magic.

“…Then—it’s time we redeemed ourselves.”

What appeared was neither blazing flame nor sky-rending lightning, but black, stagnant hands of liquid. Some of them sprouted into tentacles, which pierced one after another into the corpses of the fallen monsters.

“―Corpse Marionette, Jongoul…”

Obeying Midi’s command, the black hands pumped endless fluid through the tentacles, fully seizing control of the unmoving bodies of the Domagros.

“Now the numbers are even… Now, dance to your death among yourselves.”

With that final order, the taut tentacles withdrew from the Domagros. The corpses, showing not a trace of former kinship, all at once began to assault the living Domagros. At first the living hesitated, but soon realized these were no longer comrades—just repulsive beings—and started to fight back.

“Kururuaaaaaa!!!”

“Kururuaaaaaa!!!”

The dead dragged the living into the depths of death, and the living delivered the dead their final rites. Without anyone realizing how futile it all was, they piled up corpses once again with their own hands.

“…I won’t let them get in the way anymore. So Athos, go to Ripley, quickly…”

This time Midi looked at me with determination filling her face.

“Leave the rest to me.”

Feeling the certainty in her words, I nodded silently, then moved lightly, strength in my steps, as I left them behind.

『…May we be companions who can help one another again once again…』

“―So, can I talk now?”

At Midi’s side, where she had whispered her vow where no one could hear, Lazuli finally broke her silence.

“I don’t like this kind of role… It’s exhausting. Makes my shoulders stiff, you know?”

“For someone who says that, you stayed quiet this whole time…”

“I just didn’t think it concerned me. Me being the one protected? That could never happen, not in a million years.”

As they spoke, the battle among the Domagros began tilting, and eventually those who remained alive exhaled when they saw their comrades fall back into slumber.

“…Your underlings are being pushed back. If you wish, I could lend you a hand?”

“…No need. I’ll just make them dance again.”

With another command, the black tentacles from Midi’s hands casually raised up the battered, fallen Domagros.

“You just watch over the egg. I’ll show Athos how much I’ve grown these past three years…”

“No way, that sounds boring—”

Lazuli started to object, but the pure, almost too-pure wickedness in the girl before her struck her dumb.

“…Yes. Then surely Athos will praise me… Just like before, he’ll say ‘Well done’… He’ll praise me more and more, notice me little by little… And someday he’ll praise only me… No, not just words. His smile, his gaze, his time, even the little gestures—I want them all directed only at me. His smile must belong only to me, his words used for no one else—that would be wrong. So, little by little, little by little… I’ll fill Athos’s world with nothing but me. Waking up, talking, eating, fighting—it should all be only with me. He doesn’t need anyone else, right? …Athos… fufufu~♡”

That day—at that very moment—Lazuli became aware, for the first time, that there was such a thing as fear inside her.

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