The previous battle had whittled down the bulk of the bandits' fighting strength. Numbers were power. That was an undeniable fact. Under normal circumstances, that should have been game over. But Charme hadn't returned. That strongly suggested the enemy's main force was still out there. In other words, a small, elite cadre. Even from a distance, the movements of that treasure hunter bandit I had killed at the very end were remarkably refined. Had the sheep cats fought him head-on, there was no doubt they would have suffered grievous casualties. If whoever remained was even more elite than him, that alone made them an overwhelming threat.
That was precisely why we were laying a trap. Of course, I didn't actually expect them to blunder into it. It would be enough if it simply created an opening. In that moment of vulnerability, we would pour everything we had into attacking them. Naturally, this plan could handle three opponents at most; any more than that, and the strategy would collapse. Still, if there were four or more enemies stronger than that treasure hunter, we wouldn't stand a chance anyway. It was a gamble of sorts, but the odds of mere bandits possessing that much military might weren't very high. It shouldn't be a bad bet.
"Are you really sure you want to take part in this?"
I repeated the question for what felt like the tenth time to Tama, the red-haired, cat-faced woman with short-cropped hair who was still glaring at me, weapon drawn.
"Yeah! I'm not leaving you to run wild! If you pull even the slightest funny business, I'll kill you!"
"Which is why I keep telling you—we don't have the luxury for this right now, do we?"
I looked back toward Chato, who was crouched behind us, hoping he might talk some sense into her.
"It's no use. Once Tama gets an idea in her head, she won't listen to a damn thing."
Chato grumbled as he climbed back to his feet.
"Chato, why are you being so cozy with him?! He's a human!"
"Yeah, he is. But the guy is genuinely trying to save Charme. That much I believe."
"Huh? A human trying to save Charme? Have you completely lost your mind?!"
Tama shouted with venomous fury, prompting Chato to grimace.
"Hey, look, you're the one who needs to realize what kind of situation we're—"
Before he could finish, the dense underbrush rustled.
Everyone instantly dropped into a combat stance, but it was only a single rabbit that darted out, zipped past our feet, and vanished into the thicket.
"W-what... just a rabbit? Scared the hell out of me."
Chato wiped the sweat from his forehead and gripped his spear.
"Well, I'm gonna go check in with Kiji."
He turned to head toward where Kiji was on standby. At that very instant—a thin line traced across Chato's neck. The line quickly rippled through the rest of his body, and he came apart in disjointed chunks of flesh, splashing heavily onto the ground.
"Eh?"
Catching sight of Chato reduced to minced meat in the blink of an eye, Tama let out a stunned, hollow shriek.
"R-runnn!"
Without even looking back, I screamed the order with all the breath in my lungs.
"No can do. I won't allow it. ♡"
—Shudder!
A violent chill shot through my entire body. It felt as if a colossal carnivore were pinning me down from behind. Driven by pure morbid dread, I forced my neck around. Tama was already dead, her head twisted at an unnatural angle, and—
"Oh dear, I went and killed her. I was supposed to take the females alive, wasn't I? They're just so fragile, it sort of slipped."
Holding Tama's head in a casual, crushing grip was a slender, handsome man with asymmetrical blue hair—long on the left, short on the right.
The corners of his mouth were pulled taut into an unsettling grin, radiating sheer madness.
"Ah..."
The only sound that escaped my lips was a whimper of despair. Because I finally understood. A person's schemes could only ever work against beings bound by the same natural laws as themselves. There was no beating this monster. He existed entirely outside that realm.
"Aaaaaaaaargh!"
My scream—
"Alright, got a scream!"
—was abruptly cut short by the blue-haired man's voice, dripping with pure glee. In the very same breath, the world went black, and my consciousness was cleanly severed.