Part 228: Decapitation

"Wait, you're kidding, right!?"

Everyone stares in shock at the scene.

Even as this unfolds, the man bitten by the two horses continues screaming pitifully toward the entire world.

"Damn it! Chiba! Just... stay still!"

Then, Yoshida pulls out a large revolver from his pocket.

Ah, this guy's definitely the "Shooter."

"Destroy the head—completely!"

"I don't need to be told...!"

Then, Yoshida pulls the trigger.

At the same moment, a bullet enveloped in an orange aura is fired.

The bullet strikes precisely between Ryo's eyes, shattering his skull—already nearly carbonized—into fragments.

He's definitely dead....This time for sure.

Yet, the problem was far from resolved.

The wound on the man known as Toba should be thoroughly coated with both Hanma's saliva and brain matter.

I stepped a few paces back and chose to observe the situation from a distance.

"Hey... hey... are you alright, Toba?"

Although Mr. Yoshida called out with concern, he absolutely refused to approach him.

"Uuu... uuuu... Gy, Yoshida... what's happening to me... my skin... it feels like it's burning..."

Kneeling at the center of the crater, the man grimaced in agony.

Anyone with even average imagination would have immediately realized he was in grave danger.

"Please... someone! Is there anyone here who can use a healing spell!?"

Yoshida called out to his companions, but everyone remained silent, offering no reply.

All we could do was simply watch—helpless and still.

How he was transforming into the same thing as Ryoma—what the Skill Identification result indicated was called the "Hungering One."

At first glance, there was no significant change in his appearance.

Yet, from the large gap where his shoulder had been, his skin gradually turned a bloodless hue, as if being eaten away.

‘Gh… a… A… A…’

Though painful, I couldn’t help but say this to Yoshida.

"Let's kill him. He can't be saved anymore."

The words "cut off his head," which Ryoma had said, meant exactly this.

I couldn't let the information he'd passed on to me, even after mutating into a monster, go to waste.

"Y-you idiot... Toba... he's my brother...!"

"The man you turned to ash was someone I knew, too."

Yoshida stared, wide-eyed like a startled doll,

"What... what exactly was that thing? It's not a zombie... is it...?"

"I don't know. Probably a new type of 'hostile lifeform.'"

"A new type...?"

Toba remained hunched in a prostrate position, utterly still, as if frozen in place.

I can't think of a way to eliminate him with a single strike.

No matter how hard I try, long-range attacks just aren't enough to kill something that's already become a 'Hungered.'

"Everyone, let's work together and cast the Fire Spell Level 5 again...!"

"Y-You idiot. Can't we wait a little longer and see what happens?"

"But leaving him like this is even more dangerous!"

"Listen! Anyone who hurts him—! I won't forgive you!"

Oh no. They're completely divided.

The surrounding "players" are all visibly shaken.

There's no group more fragile than one without leadership.

If Toba or whoever she is starts causing trouble in this situation, it would be impossible to handle.

At that moment, from within the crowd, a small girl suddenly emerged.

In her hand was a Japanese sword.

The familiar blade—exactly the one I had just thrown into the alleyway earlier, my grandfather's heirloom.

With a posture so low it seemed to scrape the ground, she dashed forward, discarded her scabbard, and without hesitation, severed Toba's head in one clean stroke.

In the moonlit sky, Birda's severed head arced through the air like a curve.

"Wha...?"

"Oh my."

The head rolled around inside the crater, still twitching its mouth open and shut for a while, but—eventually, it stopped moving completely.

"Wha—Aaaahhh!?!"

Yoshida screamed, not in rage, but in sheer shock.

The girl's true identity was—Aizuki Miharu, the one I'd left behind in the alleyway.

It seemed she'd been following me all along.

"N-No... W-What...! This brat...!"

Oh no.

Yoshida-san probably isn't in any state to have a rational conversation right now.

"What the hell are you doing, you little bastard!?!"

And then he aimed the revolver's barrel directly at Miharu-chan.

Too late by the time I realized it was bad.

Yoshida, enraged, fired about three bullets straight at Miharu-chan.

Even I couldn't possibly dodge the bullets to shield Miharu-chan—there was nothing I could do but silently watch as her body was pierced.

In this world, nothing seems less deserving of death than a child.

Even I, who can normally look straight at most things, couldn't bear to watch that.

I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut,

and then, a familiar baritone voice said,

"By the way, the *Great Shield of the Holy Knight* can appear exactly where I intend."

Cautiously opening my eyes, I saw an amorphous, mercury-like large shield materializing just in front of Mihito-chan.

Yoshida's bullets had all been perfectly blocked.

"Yukiu...?"

"Sorry, I'm late."

Then, with heavy steps, the masked man walked past me and punched Yoshida squarely in the face without hesitation.

"Yeeek!"

I saw Yoshida roll across the ground.

"Man, I just punched him without really knowing what was going on... Did I mess up?"

Behind him stood Rika Asada, Rinne Okuda, Tsumugi Amamiya, and Akihabara's "King," En Tanaomi.

As for me, I let out a deep sigh of relief and replied thus.

No, not really?