Somni and his group continued their search for a while after that. Well, calling it a search was generous—there were only low-tier undead. Not just Somni and Egg, but even the three girls accompanying them could defeat the monsters without breaking a sweat, so the whole affair had effectively turned into playtime. In fact, Egg was currently chatting with the girls about where to grab dinner in the city tonight, barely bothering to participate in the fights.
Laila alone remained attentive, carefully scanning their surroundings. Watching her, Egg and the girls took every opportunity to mock her as a coward.
In the midst of this...
"!"
As if sensing something, Laila raised a shapely eyebrow, drew the longsword at her waist, and lowered her center of gravity to warily scan the area.
"This is bad," she called out, sounding the alarm.
"Bad? What is?"
She was sensitive to the presence of undead and had detected them several times before. This was bound to be more weaklings anyway.
Somni acknowledged that Laila was quite skilled with a blade, even if she couldn't match him. However, she was far too cautious. No, calling her cowardly might be closer to the truth. The undead appearing in an exam of this level were trivial. No matter how off-guard he was caught, there was simply no way someone of Somni's caliber would ever fall behind against such low-tier trash.
"Don't listen to her, Somni-san. She's just scared out of her mind by those weakling undead, you know."
When Somni asked, Egg poked fun at her with a smirk, prompting a burst of derisive laughter from the girls as well.
"Draw your swords! We are surrounded!"
Without sparing Egg and the others so much as a glance, Laila kept her eyes on the perimeter, barking the warning under her breath in a hurried whisper.
"Surrounded? Did your delusions go that far already?"
As Egg stepped toward her, she shouted at the top of her lungs, beads of sweat dripping from her brow.
"Just get into battle stance!"
"Like I said, what could possibly even be out here?"
Scowling in annoyance, Egg began strolling toward the deeper parts of the forest.
"Do not go any further!"
When Laila yelled desperately after him, Egg looked back over his shoulder.
"No need to put on an act. If you're scared, just say so—it'd be a lot cuter that way."
Mockingly, he flapped his right hand in front of his face.
"Hate to break it to ya, but the broad's right."
"Huh?"
With those words, Egg's right arm suddenly severed and fell to the ground with a wet thud.
"..."
For a moment, Egg simply stared at the spray of fresh blood. Then, clutching the stump of his severed arm, he let out an ear-splitting shriek and began thrashing on the ground in agony.
Before anyone could realize what had happened, a bald man brandishing a large scimitar stood looming over the writhing swordsman.
"..."
Egg's right arm had been lopped off. The bald man had clearly done it. That meant he was an unmistakable enemy, and unless they assumed a fighting stance immediately, death was certain. Yet Somni's mind went completely blank. He could only stare in dazed shock at Egg clutching his severed arm, writhing on the forest floor.
Somni had never felt the reality of human death so close before. That had to be why. No matter what, he couldn't process what was happening. He couldn't accept it.
"Do not just stand there in a daze, draw your sword! Do you want to die?!"
"A-Ah, right."
Amidst the raging chaos in his head, Somni nodded numbly at Laila's urging and drew the longsword at his waist.
The bald man spared Somni a brief glance, then fixed his gaze on Laila, his eyes narrowing.
"Hoh. For a brat, you're not half bad."
He stroked his chin with his empty left hand as he voiced his assessment.
It was the first time in Somni's life that someone had treated him as so entirely beneath their notice. Perhaps because of that, a surge of intense humiliation welled up unbidden from the bottom of his gut.
"You bastard, get away from Egg!" he raged.
Looking over at Somni with an air of utter boredom, the bald man replied, "Ah, man. So you're that pretty-boy swordsman from the request. Hey, do you even get what's going on here?"
He rubbed his chin a few times, shrugged, and let out a mocking sneer.
"Just back away from him! Otherwise—"
"You're gonna kill me, is that it?"
The bald man leveled the tip of his scimitar straight at Somni.
(Eep!)
Just from that simple motion, a shriek nearly tore from Somni's throat.
"T-That's right!"
Fully aware that his body was cowering, Somni somehow managed to steel his resolve and bellowed from the depths of his chest.
"Impossible. Not a chance in hell. Putting your raw skill aside, you're a total amateur, aren't ya? One look is all it takes."
"Don't mock me! I placed in the top four of the Sacred Martial Arts Tournament! I won't lose to the likes of you!"
The bald man narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Somni, then let out a scornful scoff through his nose.
"How naive. I don't feel a shred of threat from you. Your actual ability ain't much different from this small fry."
Stepping hard on the head of Egg, who was crawling and groaning in agony on the dirt, the man spat out words of pure contempt.
"I told you to get away from Egg!"
At Somni's desperate shout, the bald man sighed heavily as if thoroughly exasperated. Then, wiping away the faint smirk he had worn until now, he spoke in a bone-chilling tone.
"If you want me to back off, show me with strength, not words. That's the world for those of us who live by the blade. In short, the weak..."
He paused, his voice turning icy.
"...just take whatever's coming to them."
With those words, he drove his scimitar straight down into Egg's right thigh.
"Gyaaagh—!"
A shrill shriek erupted from Egg's throat.
"S-Stop it!"
"Didn't I tell ya? Show me with action, not your mouth."
The bald man twisted the blade embedded deep in Egg's leg.
"Damn it!"
Somni ordered his legs to charge to the rescue, but they wouldn't budge an inch.
"Why?!"
Trapped in a spiral of panic, he desperately tried to move, but in the end, he could do nothing more than scream.
"I'll tell you why. It's because you're weak."
"I'm weak?! I am Lord Gilbert's youngest holy knight! Aside from the Sacred Martial Arts Tournament, I've placed near the top in numerous competitions—"
"I don't give a damn about your fancy credentials. You lack the single most important thing needed for someone who makes a living through bloodshed. That's why you're in this mess."
The bald man yanked the scimitar from Egg's thigh and closed the distance to Somni with agility unfathomable for his massive frame.
"Eh?"
A hollow, dumbfounded sound slipped past Somni's lips.
"Nobody said I had to bring you in in one piece anyway, so I might as well mince you up until you can't flap that annoying mouth of yours anymore."
Muttering to himself, the bald man raised his scimitar high.
Unable to think straight, Somni could only watch the man's strike fall in a stupor.
"Get down!"
A woman's shout pierced through his daze.
The invisible paralysis shackling Somni shattered, and he instinctively threw himself flat against the dirt.
An instant later, steel clashed against steel. Snapping his head up, he saw Laila intercepting the downward swing of the bald man's blade.
"Helner Style Swordsmanship, First Transmission: Calm!"
As Laila's longsword parried the scimitar, it traced a smooth, flowing motion like a gentle wave, sweeping directly toward the man's throat. He sprang backward, narrowly evading the strike.
"Did you just try to take my head off? Little girl, you're the only one here who passes!"
Licking his lips, the bald man dropped his stance low for the first time, bracing for combat.
"I shall hold him off! Hurry, take Egg and the others and run!"
"B-But..."
As Somni hesitated—
"Stop standing around like a fool!! Egg is already at his limit!!"
Laila's voice crashed over him like a bolt of lightning.
"!?"
Snapping out of it as if struck, Somni scrambled over to Egg, tore off his own sleeve with trembling hands, and tightly bound the stump where blood still gushed. Hoisting the wounded man onto his shoulder, he rushed back to the three frozen girls.
"We're falling back to the plaza for now! Follow me!"
Urging them forward, Somni took off sprinting down the path they had come.