The monster fox revealed its true form and grew giant. I ran away from it.
Urging myself on despite my knees feeling like they would break, I sprinted up the stairs. I pulled Kalm’s hand, fighting the fear that it would catch up to us at any moment. She was also panting, her breaths ragged. She opened her mouth, struggling to breathe. Curses echoed from the depths of the earth with guttural roars.
A faint light appeared. I opened the door and ran past the examination room. The waiting room was as quiet as when we first arrived, with chairs neatly arranged. I put my hands on my knees and took a deep breath. Calm down, there’s still time, I told myself, but the chill crawling up my spine wouldn’t subside.
“We made it. That’s right, let’s go outside and call for backup.”
Kalm said this and headed for the entrance.
“Ah, it won’t open. No way.”
“Haha, you’re pulling it wrong. You’re supposed to push.”
I laughed and pulled the door.
“…Huh? It won’t open. That’s impossible.”
I tried no matter how many times I pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t locked. I remembered the fox saying it controlled this entire area. In that case…
“Aaaargh, I found you. Running around like a little rat.”
A giant fox’s head peeked from around the corner. Had it already caught up? It approached me, shaking the floor with heavy thuds. I heard my throat constrict with a gasp. A long, eerie arm was raised.
“Ah, dangerous! Dodge!”
I instinctively leaped to the side. Or rather, I thought I leaped. Directly in front of me, a giant beast’s palm struck.
With a shock, I slammed into my own back. It hurt! It seemed I had been blown off my feet and hit a chair in the waiting room. My vision swam. I shook my head, forcing myself back to consciousness. My head throbbed as if it were about to split open.
“First, I’ll eat you. Heh, human flesh, how long has it been?”
A long tongue sloshed, saliva dripping. The fox grinned, revealing rows of sharp fangs. Just then, I saw Kalm plunge a sword into its neck from the opposite side.
“Ugh, what is this fly? It’s so annoying.”
WHAM! A sickening, bone-jarring thud. The monster fox grabbed Kalm, sword and all, and slammed her onto the ground. She disappeared into the rising dust.
“Kalm! Are you okay?!”
There was no reply. Could she have been knocked unconscious by that blow? That would be for the best. If, in the worst case, she had died… My heart, which had stopped, began to race at an abnormal speed. No, no, that couldn’t be. She must be safe.
As if sensing Kalm had fallen, the fox turned its head and looked at me.
“Hehehehe, I’ll send you to hell too.”
“Arisugawa! We didn’t have salt, but we had saline solution!”
That voice was Reirio. It felt like my scattered soul had returned to my body. That’s right, if I gave up here, who would protect them? I was saved by the lives of this couple’s son. If not now, then when would I repay him?
I slipped past the monster fox and ran towards them at full speed.
“If saline solution for IV drips is okay, please use it.”
“Thank you, I will.”
I didn’t know if it would work. But it was all I had now. I ripped open the bag and poured the contents over my head. Drawing my dagger, I assumed a posture facing the enemy.
“My companions are on the floor above. Can you bring them here?”
I asked the two to search for Veronica. The monster fox turned its head again, following my movement. I urged Ias, who yelped, to go quickly.
“DIEEEE!!”
A huge, scarlet maw lunged towards me, like Hell’s Gate. No, my body froze, unable to move. The sheer terror immobilized me, I couldn’t even breathe.
CHOMP. The large mouth snapped shut just before my face. Sniff, sniff, it flared its nostrils, smelling the air.
“Salt? Ggrrr! You dare make me go through so much trouble.”
A frustrated grinding of teeth echoed in my ears. In that opening, I crouched and slipped under the monster fox’s legs. I ran through the gap between its legs towards Kalm. Like me, she had been slammed into a chair and was unconscious. Before shaking her shoulder, I cut open the saline solution bag I held and poured it over her head.
