I Thought It Was a Fairy Tale but the Genre Is Strange

72 – Escape

Ariel plummeted at breakneck speed. She shot like a bullet, crashing straight into a dilapidated house nearby, demolishing it as she entered. A deafening roar echoed with a surge of thick dust. Alice followed directly behind. Inside, things were colliding and shattering.

“No!”

I tried to rush forward, but the wolf that Ariel had sent flying earlier blocked my path. The queen’s vile laughter came from behind me.

“I don’t know what you’re plotting, but come to me quietly, Poison Apple.”

“Shut your trap, you hag! You think I’ll just take it lying down?”

My scythe is a scythe that cuts through magic. That hulking wolf with sharp claws and teeth is nothing more than magic. Therefore, I can eliminate it easily.

I charged without the slightest hesitation.

“KRAWW!!!”

The wolf roared in response and lunged at me.

“I’ve already killed another wolf!”

The wolf’s sharp fangs flashed in the air. It leapt high, jaws wide open aiming straight for my head. I gritted my teeth and swung the scythe upward with all my strength.

*Swoosh!*

The sensation of cutting through water traveled up the scythe’s handle. The wolf instantly exploded into ordinary blood the moment it touched the scythe. The queen clapped calmly at the sight.

*Clap clap clap*

“You have an excellent weapon. It has power worthy of being called a treasure. But it’s too good for our Poison Apple to be wielding. Why don’t you hand it over to me?”

“What would a hag like you do with a scythe? How about you just stay home and knit?”

The queen’s eyes twitch. The hag remark gets under her skin, alright.

“Our viper has a problem with her mouth. Then, how about this?”

The queen flicks her fingers lightly, and blood pools around us, then writhing, instantly forms into dozens of wolves surrounding us.

“Grrr…”

The wolves circle us, growling low. Damn it, she’s really playing with us!

“H-hic! W-what are all these wolves!”

One of the dwarves shudders, terrified.

“Don’t be scared, everyone! We’ll fight back to back! Protect the princess, all of you!”

At Adel’s words, Snow White actually stepped forward. She pointed her longsword at the blood-red wolves and shouted.

“No, I’ll fight too! I’m sick and tired of always being helped from behind!”

“Y-yes, Princess… understood.”

Adel acknowledged, seeing the resolute look in Snow White’s eyes. We stood back-to-back, maintaining our formation. The queen grinned as if finding us cute, and flicked her fingers again.

Then the wolves charged at us in perfect unison. Their terrifying maws gaping wide. We fought desperately. I could easily deal with the wolves that lunged their teeth at me, but the problem was that there were just too many of them.

“Kgh!”

Adel fell backwards. A wolf had sunk its sharp teeth into his arm. Adel slammed a dagger into the wolf’s head, but his strikes were too weak, useless.

“Grrr! Let go, you damn wolf!!”

“Hold on, Adel!”

I immediately ran over, sliced the wolf’s head off, and pulled Adel up.

“Ugh, thanks.”

“aaah! H-help me!”

Right then, a scream tore through the air from the opposite side. Another dwarf was in a terrifying situation, a wolf had latched onto his leg and was dragging him away.

The other dwarves tried to go help, but they were overwhelmed dealing with the endless onslaught of wolves in front of them.

“Kraaw!”

“Damn it!”

I was no exception. The wolf in front of me was sliced apart by my sickle, reduced to a bloody mess. The dwarf being dragged was too far; going to save him would create a gap in our formation, just adding to the danger.

What to do? There were too many wolves! At this rate, that dwarf was going to end up inside a wolf’s belly, not even a real wolf’s at that!

“Haaap!”

Then, someone burst out of our line. Short hair flying, they swung a sword and beheaded the wolf dragging the dwarf.

“Kke-gyaeng!”

The wolf was instantly reduced to a splatter of blood. Snow White, panting, reached a hand out to the dwarf.

“A-ah, P-Princess. Th-thank you!”

“Haa, haa. It’s only natural I protect my retainers.”

This is insane! Is this the time for a casual chat?! I saw the pack of wolves charging at them, and yelled loud enough to split my throat.

“Everyone, reform the line! Center around Snow White!”

“U-uwat! Yes, sir!”

We broke formation and ran towards Snow White, but the other wolves blocked our path, constantly hindering us.

“Damn it, get out of the way!”

Hearing my voice, Snow White snapped to her senses. She quickly twisted around and jumped, aiming to swing her sword at the wolf that had opened its maw above her. But her movements were sluggish, and the wolf’s forepaw crashed down on her shoulder first, sending her tumbling.

Hot wolf saliva, made of blood, dripped down onto Snow White.

“Princess!!”

Then, the dwarf whose life had been saved by the princess, hurled himself forward.

“Yelp!”

The wolf, struck by the dwarf, tumbled several times to the side and crashed down.

“No!”

Snow White let out a piercing scream. The sight reflected in her eyes was gruesome. The remaining wolves were attacking in unison, tearing at the dwarf’s entire body. Yet, even so, the dwarf stood firm in front of Snow White, acting as a shield.

“You damn wolf b*stards!”

I, having finally arrived, swept away the wolves in one blow. Above the wolves reduced to blood, more blood fell and caused ripples. The dwarf who had stood so upright, collapsed with a thud. In the meantime, the other dwarves had formed a new line.

Blood gushed from his mouth.

“No, no! No!!! Please, please open your eyes!!”

Snow White let out a desperate cry, almost a scream, but the dwarf had already breathed his last.

“Shit!!!”

Even amidst that, we were struggling, fighting the wolves. They were all grieving the death of their comrade, but there wasn’t even time to mourn.

“Krak!”

Even then, dwarves were being injured in real-time. This won’t do. If we stay like this, we’ll all be done for! Looking at Snow White, who was already holding the dead dwarf and sobbing uncontrollably, I yelled.

“How long are you going to keep that up! Snow! You’re the leader here. The monarch of these people! And yet, by just crying like that you’re going to let the others die!?”

At my words, Snow White, who had been sniffling, glanced at the dead dwarf and then at the other dwarves who were fighting hard amidst the splatter of blood. Then she bit her lower lip until it bled and smacked her cheeks hard with both hands, making a *slap* sound.

“I’m sorry!”

She immediately joined the fight, creating some breathing room.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Adel was fighting with tears streaming down his face. He cried out, panting heavily.

“Why the hell do these damn wolf-b*stards keep coming, even when we kill them!”

Yeah. Something was off, just like he said. Just the wolves we’d killed so far, I felt like we had taken down every single one we’d spotted at the beginning. But the wolves kept pouring out, endlessly. That’s when it hit me.

New wolves were being born behind us. The Queen was going to bleed us dry with an overwhelming force, a mass assault.

If things kept going like this, our annihilation was certain. Not even 3 minutes had passed yet. Within the next 7 minutes, the wolves alone would be enough to overwhelm us.

“Hah, hah!”

I looked to the side. Snow White, the dwarves, they were all at their physical limit. They’d been hiding out, not eating or resting properly, so it was only natural.

I have to do something. What do I do? Damn it. Swinging this heavy scythe non-stop was making me winded, my movements starting to get sluggish. Think. I need to think of a way to break through this!

“Hmm~ You’re holding up well. Here’s a reward for you.”

That’s when the Queen murmured, a chilling monologue, from behind. Blood droplets gathered on her palm, one by one, and something began to appear.

It was a spear, crimson-black. No, countless spears.

“Well~ Take these too.”

Shhhwwiiish!!!

The blood-colored spears tore through the air, charging ferociously. I gritted my teeth, slashing down every spear that flew my way. The pain felt like my muscles were ripping, my heart was pounding like it was going to explode, but I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, the ones behind me would all be done for.

I just slashed and slashed everything in front of me. Trying to deal with the wolves and the blood-red spears was making my mind spin, making it hard to even register what I was doing.

“Krrraaack!”

A scream erupted from the side. One of the dwarves was struck by a spear, letting out a cry before collapsing to the ground, lifeless.

“No!!!”

Snow White cried out in despair, tears streaming down her face, but still kept swinging her sword without pause.

This is insane. I was clearly blocking them, right? No. I wasn’t blocking them all. It was arrogant of me to think I was. The constantly generated spears of blood were changing their trajectory mid-flight, striking the dwarves.

Despair.

The world before my eyes starts to go black.