The Great Oni
Volume (1) Benoni Chapter (11)
Artha kept smiling while he blurred back and forth across the killing ground; every slice of his blade brought down another soldier.
It was as if he had five lungs—he showed no hint of fatigue.
Inside the cramped gateway Yeti, too, darted constantly, her strength and blistering speed mowing enemies down without pause.
"Damn it all!" the priest spat.
If this went on, they were finished.
The place was only a mid-sized border town of the Empire; its garrison numbered barely three hundred, and most weren't elite.
At this rate even the priest's own head might roll.
He exhaled and shouted, "Fall back! Pull to the inner barricade!"
The soldiers immediately fled.
Those still inside the prison block also retreated; they knew they could not overpower this "demon and demon-girl."
Artha did not chase. Instead he jogged to Yeti's side.
She was breathing hard; he, by contrast, seemed utterly fresh.
He ruffled her hair. "Kid, can you still fight? If we want out of the city we'll have to smash the main gate—that'll be rough."
Yeti's face stayed blank, but she nodded. "I can still go."
Artha nodded back, rummaged through the supply wagons for water, then led over two horses.
"Know how to ride?" he asked, handing her a flask.
She gulped a mouthful. "N-no."
"Fine."
He hoisted her onto the front of one mount, swung up behind, and wrapped an arm around her waist.
"Go, Katya!"
He snapped the reins.
"Neigh!"
The horse snorted and thundered toward the gate.
The town wasn't large; in a few minutes they reached the main portal.
Fifty spearmen with shields formed the first line, swordsmen behind, and at the rear the priest stood among archers and crossbowmen.
"If only I'd marched out with two hundred men earlier, I could have turned them to dust," the priest hissed.
By now the town had only about 150 soldiers left; thirty were dead, so maybe 120 remained.
Could they really stop the demon prince and that suddenly super-powered witch?
Artha had once been a prince; he'd rebelled and been captured only after poisoning and still killing five hundred troops. The poison was too strong, it could kiss a Full grown cow.
Even half-starved he might chew through 130 men; the priest feared him more than Yeti.
His face blanched.
"We end them here," he muttered.
When he saw the riders approach he barked, "shoot!"
A volley of arrows and bolts screamed out.
Artha scooped Yeti from the saddle, leapt down, and dodged. In five bounding strides he covered thirty meters and crashed into the spear wall.
He set Yeti on her feet. "take care, kid."
Then he dashed straight into the melee. A spear jab missed; he slipped inside and sheared off the wielder's head.
Yeti lacked technique, but strength and speed carried her. A veteran swordsman lunged from her blind side—
"Shiiiik!"
She sensed him just in time, twisting away; the blade scored her back and blood splashed.
Eyes blazing, she charged him. They met steel-on-steel:
"CLANG!"
Her power split the skin between his forefinger and thumb; blood welled, yet he gritted his teeth and hacked again.
She parried. A spear thrust for her spine—
Artha snatched that spear mid-flight and hurled it back:
"WHOOSH!"
The spearman's skull burst; he dropped dead.
The veteran's courage snapped; his sword slipped. Yeti cleaved him in two.
Splat—organs slithered onto the stones.
She spun and kept killing; in the confined gateway seven more soldiers fell within seconds.
Around Artha bodies carpeted the ground; within minutes another fifty were dead.
"Pull back!" the priest yelled.
He saw the future clearly: keep this up and every man would die—and then him.
Artha vaulted over a pair of corpses and sprinted at the archers, weaving through arrows and ripping into them.
When Yeti found a moment she raced to the gate windlass, slashed the rope, and the great doors rumbled open.
"Artha—let's go!" she shouted.
He was a tiger amid lambs, but hearing her call he bounded toward her.
Yeti locked eyes with the priest, memorizing his face.
"I'll be back for you, Bitch," she yelled, voice hoarse. She was going pale from blood loss.
The priest's face darkened.
"I'll send word to the Empire—you're dead meat, witch!" he screamed.
Artha and Yeti ran for almost twenty minutes, finally reaching the forest.
"Let's rest here a moment," Artha said.
Yeti nodded, sinking to the ground.