Chapter 8 – Around That Time, Sword of Lightning III

「Fshaaa!」

With Armia fell on the spot, the hydra made a victory cry.

「Pass me the medicine! My panacea needs time for its effect!」

「What medicine! There is no reason to have that!」

「Haa-!?」

Under such circumstances, Laila raised her voice, but there was nobody there who had the medicine.
It was natural.
After all, Margulus didn’t provide them with any.
Even though Laila didn’t give up and tried to search for one in Armia’s body, she couldn’t find anything.

「Ah, Ahh, Ahhhh…」

When Margulus saw that scene, his fighting spirit had disappeared.

「W-Withdraw! Run away! Get away from the hydra!」

「Hah!?」

And then, he headed back after saying only that much.
The unexpected order from Margulus made his comrade voiced their surprise, but unfortunately, it didn’t register in Margulus’ head.
At that time, what dominated Margulus’ mind was not the fact that Armia, his party main firepower, was out of battle, or a calculation that they couldn’t win no matter what.
It was fear.
Dominated by that fear, Margulus just frightened and ran away once he recognized the difference in his strength and the hydra.

「Kh!」

However, for a moment, when his mind was freed from the fear, he looked at his comrade behind him.
There were no abnormalities in Sarveria’s treatment, but Laila was in the brink of collapsing from overusing her healing magic, while Armia was unconscious.
Suddenly, a hesitation born in Margulus’ mind.
A hesitation whether he could just run away like this.

…… However, that hesitation lasted only for an instant.

「I-I’m using heavy armor and quite tired! I will leave Armia to you!」

「Hey, if you’re a warrior, you should have physical strengthening skills … wait!」

And then, Margulus who was concerned that he would be too slow if he carried Armia, Ignored Laila’s voice from behind and kept running.

「Kh!」

Laila was speechless seeing Margulus’ attitude.
No wonder.
For warriors with physical strengthening skill, there was no way armor was heavy for them.
This was why physical strengthening skills were excellent, and it was a rule for adventurers that a warrior should carry injured person if any.
That was why, when Margulus ran away alone, Laila was outraged.

「I-I’m too, I’m tired, so I will leave her to you and go ahead!」

「……… Hah?」

… Seeing the chance, Sarveria also ran away.
Laila was unable to say anything anymore seeing the scene.
Certainly, being a thief, agility aside, Sarveria’s strength was not that good.

…… But that was not a reason to run away and leaving everything to a healer who was a rearguard.

Laila was driven by her urge to scream at the two who ran away earlier.

「Ahhhhhhh! This is stupid!」

However, holding down her anger, she started to run while carrying Armia.
Even though as a rearguard whose body not trained, Laila’s speed was obviously slow, it was becoming even slower once she carried another person with her.

「Hah-hah-hah-」

Even so, she carried Armia with her desperately.
Maybe, like this, it’s not only Armia, but I will also be killed by the hydra.
While thinking so, Laila kept moving her legs.
They didn’t know each other for long, still, she was not cold-hearted enough to leave a comrade who fought together with her. Also, Laila honestly couldn’t leave this female magician who was just abandoned by her comrade.

「Hahh-hahh-hahh- just a little more!」

That was why, with a fear for hydra that might attack her from behind, Laila desperately chased after Margulus and Sarveria.

And so, Laila left the place without being killed by the hydra…

◆ ◆ ◇

「Fsaaaa……」

After seeing the invaders escaped, the hydra leaked out a sigh of relief and moved back to the place it originally slept and closed its eyes.
Margulus and the others didn’t realize because they were too desperate to run away, but the hydra was actually cornered.

Yes, it didn’t have enough strength to chase the fleeing enemies.

This was also related to why it didn’t attack the one who would potentially give it the most difficult time, Armia, from the start.
Margulus was by no means a competent swordsman.
While he wasn’t incompetent attack power wise, he lacked the ability to hold enemies back.
He lacked the ability to observe his enemy, no, his surrounding, this also including allies. He only bulldozed forward with his attack power.

It was a fatal flaw for a vanguard in a first-class party, even so, for the hydra, shaking off Margulus was still quite a burden.

That was why it was visibly weak after Armia was incapacitated.
It might be hard to see from far away, but if close by, even Margulus would notice.

…… Yes, if he was calm, he would notice.

Right, this was a perfect opportunity.
If Margulus had medicine for hydra’s poison, if he was more coolheaded.
In that situation, they would be able to kill the hydra.
But, Margulus didn’t notice.

And now, the chance for Margulus to defeat the hydra was no more.

◆ ◆ ◇

「It was a relief, Laila! So you’re alright?」

「We’re really worried about you two.」

When Laila managed to reach Margulus and Sarveria, she was greeted by a welcoming voice that was unlike Margulus at all.
Seeing their attitude, Laila wanted to scream but desperately endure and started to treat Armia.
After all, Armia condition was too bad.

「… I need to use panacea for this.」

Seeing Armia’s state, Laila realized there was no time left and decided to use the panacea.

「Wait! Use your healing magic to cure it! There would be an after-effect if you rely on a magic potion like panacea! We wouldn’t be able to go to try to subjugate that hydra again tomorrow.」

However, Margulus instead told her to do something else.
For a moment, she might even be leaking out killing intent from his words that were too off.

「Ah-」

However, she suppressed my anger, lifted off Armia’s head, and then poured the panacea into her mouth.

「N……」

After she confirmed that color had returned to Armia’s face, she glared at Margulus.

「Don’t kid around! How much magic do you think I would need to clean up Hydra’s poison! This girl will die in a moment, don’t just wasting time with that kind of suggestion!」

「Kh!」

Threatened by Laila’s words, Margulus shut his mouth.

「But, Raust purify the hydra’s poison with just 《Heal》……」

But then Margulus tried to tell her so.

「There is no way such healer exist! Now carry her! You don’t think to run away this time too like earlier don’t you?」

「Gh!」

…. Margulus had no more excuse he could say to Laila who had sent him a cold glare for a while now.
And Margulus’ party, with an atmosphere worse than after their defeat yesterday, head toward the guild in a battle formation.

「… Am I just unlucky today?」

In such atmosphere, Margulus leaked out a whisper nobody could hear.

… But Margulus himself knew the best that those words were just a cry from sore losers.