Despite seeing through the Youko’s scheme and launching a surprise attack, it was evaded.
The walls were approaching at an incredible speed! I instinctively braced myself with my shoulder. “Thump,” a shock coursed through my entire body, followed by the clatter of metal. It seemed I had fallen onto an iron table, scattering the instruments I was on.
When I looked up, the Youko was looking down at me with a leisurely smile. But this was not the end.
“Kalm!!”
Kalm, who had been on standby behind me, thrust his sword forward. But as if mocking even that, the fox monster suddenly vanished like mist and evaded. Meanwhile, Kalm, having missed, slid across the ground with the momentum.
“Ahaha, how pathetic. Is this what you call your operation? As expected, you’re fools, haha, ugh!!”
Something lunged from the side. It was too fast to see for a moment – a short dagger piercing the Youko’s flank. Upon closer inspection, it was the dagger Reirio had been holding earlier. And the one thrusting it was his wife, Ias.
“Wh-what… you!”
Stabbed by the dagger infused with resentment, the Youko staggered, clutching its wound. A red stain slowly spread across the woman’s kimono. Releasing the dagger, Ias trembled, breathing heavily.
“I… I’ve poured my hatred into this, into you. You really did this. Because of you, even unrelated people were caught up in this, lives we protected!”
“Guh… fool, do not think you can defeat me with this. GAAAAAAAH!”
The Youko began to let out a beastly roar. This was bad, but the blow had dealt significant damage. Even though my attack ended futilely, this was an opportunity. The room began to shake violently, and cracks spread across the ground. It was dangerous to stay here; we needed to retreat to the waiting room. There was space there, and Veronica, who had gone upstairs, might notice.
“Mr. Jarrot, this place is dangerous. Let’s escape, Kalm too.”
“Understood, let’s go.”
Reirio carried the fallen patient and his colleague. Ias also helped. Meanwhile, behind them, the Youko was transforming, as if into a werewolf. Its body became covered in beastly fur, its claws sharpened to a point, and its mouth split wide open to its ears. Its growing body finally tore through its kimono.
“H-Help! Please wait!”
Kalm, as if flying over the separating ground, sped towards us. The Jarrot couple, carrying the injured, disappeared through the door.
“GAAAAAAAH, Wait!! I will not forgive you—”
The sound of the underground shaking echoed. The couple carrying the patient and colleague looked at me.
“We are not good with stairs, so we will use the slope over there. Is there anything we can do to help?”
To help, it came to mind that salt and sake were good for exorcising evil. There was no sake here, but there might be salt.
“If you have salt, please. We will lure this monster to the waiting room upstairs.”
The two nodded and disappeared down the hallway. Kalm arrived shortly after.
“Huff, huff, oooh, growing so big all of a sudden.”
“We’ll use the stairs to go up. We’ll fight there.”
Looking back, the monster fox peeked its giant head out of the room. It licked its lips. I grabbed Kalm’s hand and retraced our steps. I thought I remembered a dispensing room along the way. In the darkness, I strained my eyes, searching for the signboard with the name.
“Ah, here it is. Hurry!”
We opened the dispensing room door and quickly closed it. Outside, a scraping sound, as if the walls were being filed, echoed. It was an unsettling sound that made the hair on my body stand on end. We proceeded up the stairs without stopping. Soon after, the dispensing room door was shattered. A slimy, terrifying beast’s hand reached in. It was as if it were searching for a mouse in a hole.
Eyeballs reflected in the small door, peeking out.
“So you ran in there, ending up like rats in a bag.”
It was trying to force its way through the narrow door. The walls crumbled with sharp cracks. They were catching up, I would be ensnared by those long claws! My back chilled with fear, and an unpleasant sweat broke out all over my body. I wanted to run, but my knees felt weak. Despite kicking off the ground, I couldn’t move forward, and my breath escaped as if holes had opened in my lungs. The stairs leading to the surface seemed to stretch endlessly.
