三十五話
なれど、必殺の一撃が決まろうと、悦に入る余裕なんてものはやってこない。
目まぐるしく変わる状況。
斬ったと認識をした直後、直接心臓を鷲掴みにでもされたのではと錯覚してしまう程の重圧が俺という存在を覆い、連動するように這い上がる悪寒に身がぶるりと震え上がった。
————ま、ず......っ!!
それは、確かな予感だった。
己の死という確かな冷たい予感。
それを本能で感じ取り、俺は足が地面につくより早く、〝
直後、先ほどまで俺がいた場所へ轟音を伴って大地より勢いよく上空へ向かって生える鋼鉄の尾。
「デタラメ過ぎる、だろッ!!?」
予備動作は一切見受けられなかった。
程なく四方から鋼鉄の尾が繰り出される。
一体幾つ尻尾持ってんだよと思わず叫びたくなる。だけれど、そんな暇は何処にも存在しない。
避けるか。斬るか。
迫られる究極の選択。
しかし、俺が取捨選択をするより早く轟く二つの声。
「————伏せてッ!!」
ほんの僅かに、脚をバネのように曲げて予備動作。そして————再度の肉薄。
眼前に存在する的は特大。
これであれば目を瞑っていても当てられる。
故に、集中力は全て剣に向けてしまえ。
それ以外にリソースを割くな。
無駄だ。邪魔だ。捨て置け。
「こん、どこそ————ッッ!!!!」
向けられた攻撃はシヴァとフィオレが対処してくれた。なら、俺がやるべき事はこのまま〝流れ星〟を撃ち放つという行為だけ————。
はぁっ、と大きく息を吸い込み、血潮の猛りに身を任せる。そして、
やって来る空白の思考。
俺の視界が突然、
なんで正常に剣が振り下ろせないんだと嘆くように目を怒らせ、目の前の理不尽に対する言葉にならない憤怒を吐露する。
全身を支配して来る酩酊感。
すると、身体を支配していた酩酊感が消え、視界も元に戻っていた。
けれども、お陰でずしりとのし掛かる疲労感。そのせいで一瞬だけ、反応が遅れる。
言葉にならない〝ジャバウォック〟の叫び声——咆哮。同時、ほんの一瞬の意識の間隙を突いて繰り出される前脚による脚撃。
最早、来ると分かっているのに身体が正常に動いてくれない。
「ぁがッ、」
衝突する鉤爪と、剣。
しかし、地力の差は火を見るより明らか。
残酷な現実は容赦なく俺に襲い掛かる。
まともに抵抗出来ていたのは一秒あったかどうか。やがてやってきた一撃を剣で受けた事でその衝撃を一身に受けてしまい、塵芥のように吹き飛ぶ身体。
砂煙を巻き込みながら視界の中で忙しなく移り変わる天と地。まるでボールのように何度も地面をバウンドした後、十数秒経て漸くその勢いが衰え始め、ずざざと地面に身体が擦られながら止まる。
「随分と変わった戻り方すんだな」
ぐぃ、と手の甲で鼻から垂れる鮮血を拭う。
どうやら俺は、シヴァのすぐ側にまで力任せに飛ばされていたらしい。
ほら言わんこっちゃねえと言わんばかりの言葉が俺の鼓膜を揺らしていた。
先のやり取りのせいで身体のあちこちに擦り傷が生まれてはいたが、上手く防御出来ていたのだろう。致命傷は何一つとして負ってはいない。
十分及第点と言っていい筈だ。
「とはいえ、あれで身を以て理解しただろ? ......あのデカブツに接近して攻撃を仕掛けんのはほぼ不可能にちけえ」
「......結局、あれは何?」
「〝魔法〟だろうよ。ごく稀にだが、変異種と呼ばれる魔物共の中に先天的に〝魔法〟を扱えるヤツが現れる、なんて話を何処かで耳に挟んだ事がある」
当時はとんだ法螺話を語る奴もいたもんだと思ってたんだがな。どうやら違ったらしい。
まるで勘弁してくれと言っているかのような口振り。しかし、当の本人たるシヴァの面貌は喜悦に歪んでいた。口角を吊り上げるその行為は紛れもなく歓喜のあらわれである。
—————心が躍る。
そうでなくては。
いや、そのくらいじゃなきゃオレの名は轟かねえよなあ、などと頭のおかしい持論を今頃胸中で展開しているのではないだろうか。
「......だが、遠間からちまちま攻撃仕掛け続けていても埒あかねえ。だから、何とかあの魔法の穴を見つけたかったんだが」
先程、俺を向かわせた理由も、何らかの糸口を掴めるきっかけになれば。と思っての事だったのだろう。
「普通、あんだけ的がでかけりゃ本来、オレの魔法は有効的な攻撃手段となり得る筈なんだが、外殻が硬過ぎるせいでロクに攻撃が通りゃしねえ」
峨峨たる城壁の如き防御力を有する外殻の前には、生半可な攻撃は微塵も通らない。
「オレみたいに、極限まで〝魔法〟を突き詰めようとしてこなかった人間とは最悪に相性が悪ぃ」
〟を見せられているとつい、勘違いをしてしまうが、シヴァは剣士である。
剣士とは基本的に、接近し、剣を振るって斬り裂く事を当然としている。
故に、得体の知れない〝魔法〟のせいで迂闊に近づけない今、打開策を模索しながら時間を稼ぐしかないのだと彼は言った。
......シヴァの言う通りであった。
先程、俺が斬り裂いた筈の尾は程なく断面同士が癒着し、キレイさっぱり再生を遂げていた。
まるで、それは済んだ話であると言わんばかりに。
フィオレが〝ピィちゃん〟と名付けた魔物との戦闘を懐古しながら俺は言う。
しかし現実、俺とシヴァの手に、〝ジャバウォック〟に対する有効的な攻撃手段は一つとして存在していない。
しかし、倒したい。どうにかして、あのデカブツを叩きのめしてやりたい。
————ならばどうする。
「だから、早いところどうにかして斬るしかない」
がしゃり、と親しみ深い金属音を立てる。
それが自問する言葉に対する答え。
どこまで煎じ詰めようが、俺という存在が剣士である限り、斬り裂くくらいしか倒す手段は残されていないのだ。
「いいように弄ばれてたヤツが言っても説得力ねえよ」
面白おかしそうにシヴァはケタケタ笑う。
「で、なんだ? 何か取っておきでも隠し持ってんのかよ?」
自信ありげに語る俺の様子から、彼はそう判断。
続け様、策があるんならもう一回くらいは譲ってやってもいいぜとシヴァは言った。
どうにかして接近したいと考えるなら、必然、接近を試みてあの〝魔法〟の穴を見つけるしかない。それを分かっているから、シヴァは倒したいと口にしながらも俺にまだ譲ると宣ったのだろう。
「当然。なにせ俺は〝星斬り〟だからね。奥の手なんてものはそれこそ、両の手で数え切れないほどあるよ」
————ただ、その半数以上は今の俺じゃこれっぽっちも扱えないけど。
この状況で弱音を吐くわけにもいかないのでその言葉は胸中にて留め置く。
「......言うじゃねえか」
なら、ぜひとも見せてくれよと。
喜色に染める表情から感情を読み取り、期待に応えんと、彼に倣うように俺も笑う。
ぶっつけ本番。
まさかこんな事になるとは思ってもみなかったので一度として試したことすら無い。
というより、試す段階に至れてなかった。
しかし、俺に用意された選択肢はひとつだけ。
やる。やらない。ではなく、やる。その一つのみ。
まだ明るいとしか形容しようがない空を仰ぎながら俺は何の脈絡もなく、頓珍漢な言葉を述べる事にした。
「————シヴァは、星が降る夜を目にした事はある?」
Chapter 35
Despite my efforts to deliver a killing blow, I didn't have the luxury to be pleased with the current situation.
The circumstances changed at a bewildering pace, as the color of blackish-red blood soon painted the empty sky.
And just as soon as I thought I had cut him, I felt a staggering pressure so heavy that I was under the illusion that I had been grabbed right in the heart. It shrouded my existence and caused me to shiver from the chills that crept up on me as if interlocking with my body.
--This is bad...!!!
It was a definite premonition.
A cold premonition of my own death.
Sensing it instinctively, I immediately retreated with a sharp grasp using my magic,{ Sword: Creation, } as a foothold before my feet touched the ground.
And right after, a giant, steel-like tail appeared, roaring above the earth where I had just been seconds ago.
"Isn't this a load of bullshit...?!"
There was no sign of any pre-motion nor a windup to the attack, but what occurred was indefinitely, just an abrupt blow.
And not long after, its steel tails were unleashed from all directions.
I unintentionally wanted to shout and ask him just how many tails he has, but unfortunately, I didn't have time for that.
Do I avoid it? Cut it down?
I had to make the ultimate choice.
But before I did, two familiar voices suddenly roared out.
"--Get down!!!"
With just a fraction of a second, I bent my legs like a spring, and once again-- I started to close in.
In front of me stood an oversized target.
A target that I could surely hit even with my eyes closed.
And so, I concentrated all my magic on my sword.
Don't dedicate it to anything else.
It's a waste. A big hindrance. So throw it away.
"This time for sure--!!!"
Siva and Fiole took care of the incoming attack, and the only thing I had to do was to unleash my technique, my 'Shooting Star.'
I then took a deep breath, and surrendered myself to the rage that was boiling my blood--
A blank thought came to me.
My vision suddenly shifted again, and this time... at an angle.
My eyes grew furious as I lamented the reason why I couldn't swing my sword down normally, and I vent my unspoken outrage at the absurdity in front of me.
A sense of intoxication gripped my entire body and my vision was left distorted.
And right after I did, the sense of intoxication that had taken over my body disappeared, and my vision returned to normal.
However, thanks to the heavy fatigue that weighed down on me, my reaction was delayed for a moment.
The Jabberwock let out an unspoken shriek, or as I liked to think-- his roar.
Although I knew it was coming, my body did not respond as it should have.
"Agh!"
His claw and my sword soon collided.
But the difference in our strength was as clear as daylight.
The cruel reality of the situation hit me mercilessly.
I could only resist for a second or so.
After bouncing on the ground many times like a ball, the momentum began to dwindle after a dozen seconds, and it finally stopped as my body scraped against the ground.
"You have a very strange way of coming back."
I wiped the fresh blood dripping from my nose with the back of my hand.
Apparently, I had been flung by sheer force right up to Siva's side.
His nagging about how he was warning me then shook my eardrums.
Although the earlier exchange had caused abrasions here and there on my body, I was probably able to defend myself well, as I did not suffer any fatal wounds.
And I think that's a good enough performance, coming from me myself.
"But you understood it firsthand now, didn't you? It's almost impossible to get close enough to that humongous thing hoping to even inflict a little bit of damage."
"...What's with that monster, anyway?"
"It's probably his 'magic'. Although it is very rare, I have heard somewhere that among the monsters called mutants, there appear those who are congenitally able to handle their own magic."
Back then, I thought the people who also spouted the same thing were just talking a lot of crap, but apparently I was wrong.
Siva's face was twisted with joy, despite the fact that it was as if he was asking for the current state of affairs to give him a break.
--His heart was racing.
Just as it should be.
Somehow, I wondered if he was now having some insane personal reasoning in his mind, thinking that he wouldn't be able to make a name for himself if he couldn't beat a monster of this caliber.
"...It would be no use continuing to unleash attacks from afar. So I was hoping to find some weakness in that unique magic of his, somehow."
The reason why he helped me get near the Jabberwock earlier was probably to get some kind of lead.
"With such a large target, my magic would be normally an effective means of attack, but his outer shell is just too hard to penetrate."
The Jabberwock's outer shell had the defensive capability of an impregnable fortress, and no half-hearted attack could penetrate its shell.
"But for someone like me who hasn't tried to master my own magic to the utmost limit, I really make a terrible match against him."
Having shown how his magic controlled his sword the 'Gladiator,' one may fall under the wrong impression, but Siva was a proper swordsman.
Essentially, a swordsman was supposed to get near the enemy in order to cut and slay them with their sword.
But being unable to close in the distance and get through the enemy's line of defense, we had no choice but to bide our time trying to find a way to bypass the Jabberwock's mysterious 'magic.'
...It was just as Siva said.
The tail that I had just slashed open was soon regenerated cleanly, with the seams and wounds quickly fusing with each other.
It was as if it forgot I was even here.
I replied while reminiscing about the battle I had with the monster Fiole had named Pii-chan.
In reality, however, there was no effective way to attack the Jabberwock in the hands of Siva and mine.
But I wanted to defeat it. No matter how I did it, I wanted to beat that giant thing.
--What should I do, then?
"We'll just have to somehow slay it as fast as we can."
A familiar metallic sound emerged with a clang.
That was the answer to the question I asked myself.
No matter how much I boiled it down, so long as I was a swordsman, the only way for me to defeat him was to slice him open.
"For someone who got flung around earlier, you don't sound very convincing."
Siva laughed at me in an amused way.
"So, what do you plan to do? Do you have something special in store for me?"
He must've concluded from my confident tone.
If I had a strategy, he was willing to back me up at least one more time, Siva said.
If I wanted to get close somehow, I would inevitably have to try to get close enough to find the weakness in his magic.
"Of course I have. I'm a Star Slayer after all. I've got more tricks up my sleeve than I can count on both hands."
--It was just... I couldn't handle doing more than half of them.
I couldn't afford to be weak under the circumstances, so I decided to keep those words to myself.
"...You don't say."
Then, by all means, show me.
I read his emotion from his happy expression, and I smiled as if following his lead, hoping to meet his expectations.
A spur of the moment demonstration, in the most crucial time.
I had never thought this would happen, so I had never even unleashed it once.
I hadn't even considered at least trying it out.
But there was only one option available to me.
And that was not to attempt and do it, but to submit myself to doing it.
While looking up at the sky, which I could only describe as still bright, I decided to say a few irrelevant words unrelated to our current circumstances.
"--Have you ever seen a night filled with shooting stars?"
Star-Slaying Swordsman
星斬りの剣士
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/star-slaying-swordsman/
Action Fantasy Martial Arts Mature Psychological Shounen
Adapted to Manga Dark Fantasy World Male Protagonist Mature Protagonist Medieval Philosophical Romantic Subplot Sudden Strength Gain Sword And Magic Sword Wielder Transplanted Memories
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7336gg/
アルト／遥月