A single black bird circled, picking up speed, then folded its wings and plummeted downward. Its massive body moved at a speed that didn't match its size. Perhaps its sheer bulk made it fall even faster.
Whoosh— The sound of air tearing rang out, and as the black bird swept past below, Rem vanished from his position.
"This crazy bastard?"
Pel saw what Rem had done and spat out praise for him.
He'd asked him to support, so what was he doing?
Just before the bird dove in, the madman of the west wound a rope tightly around one of his hand axes and floated it in the air.
As the black bird thrust its beak forward like a great spear to strike, Lawford and Pel swung their swords to deflect the beak, and the axe and rope Rem had floated caught directly on the creature's neck.
That's how Rem climbed atop the bird's body, and the bird took flight again.
"Commander."
Lawford called out to Enkrid. Enkrid knew the name of the one person in this world who should worry him the least.
"That's Rem."
Meaning he was someone who would fulfill his role even in the sky.
"Rule-ru-ral-la!"
Something like a battle cry echoed from above. It was Rem's voice.
The forced cheerfulness was probably influenced by the song Teresa had been singing below.
Rem recalled some lyrics from songs he used to sing in the west.
Wasn't there something about how it's bad luck when a crow cries?
Still atop the bird, Rem summoned a friend through shamanism. The moment a giant eagle's form took position behind him, he put strength into his left fingers and stabbed them between the black bird's feathers. His fingers pierced through like an eagle's talons, tearing through feathers and flesh to embed themselves.
Peeeee.
He pursed his lips to make a sound resembling an eagle's cry.
With his left hand as his anchor, Rem lowered his body and moved forward. It was movement no different from a guide climbing a cliff.
Except instead of a cliff, he was riding atop a giant beast's back, with the added complication of being high in the sky.
After moving near the black bird's head, he drove his descending weapon—an axe—straight down. Every motion was executed without hesitation, making it look incredibly swift.
The black bird struggled desperately, twisting its body left and right to shake off the presence on its back, but Rem didn't fall.
This was the result.
The axe split the creature's skull.
Crack!
Black blood and brain matter from the small head sprayed like rain. Rem kept his left hand embedded in the creature's body while hunching his back and half-rising.
As he lifted his head, he saw the distorted ashen sun sinking in the distance. Another bird passed in front of that sun.
Rem had already read its movement, so he'd already hooked the descending weapon at his waist, and immediately pulled out the hand axe that had been caught on the dead bird and threw it.
A large body meant there were many parts to target.
Shriiiek.
The hand axe that flew through the air embedded itself in another bird's back with a thunk. The dead bird was falling, but it could still serve as a foothold briefly. Rem did just that.
Using the foothold, he bent his knees slightly, putting strength into his thighs, then pulled the rope tied to the hand axe. The circling black bird fluttered and was briefly dragged over, stopping mid-air.
It was a brief moment, but that was enough. Rem pulled the rope and leaped, spreading both arms to ride the wind and climb atop the next creature's body.
With both arms spread, flying through the sky, he truly looked like an eagle.
Meanwhile, the bird that had served as his foothold crashed somewhere far from where the party was fighting.
Crash.
As the bird's fall echoed, Rem's axe split the second bird's skull.
Peeeee.
His whistle rang out once more across the sky.
[ * * * ]
How does he plan to get down from there?
One might have such doubts, but Enkrid didn't.
He truly believed Rem would figure it out on his own. He wasn't someone who would go up without a plan. There were plenty of ways, weren't there?
He could roughly use trees as support to slow his descent, or if worst came to worst, ask Audin to catch him.
'Even if a leg breaks, it breaks, but that probably won't happen.'
It wasn't like he'd climbed so high he looked like a dot, so that height should be fine.
The moment that thought ended, the last of the three black birds panicked and soared upward the instant Rem climbed onto it.
Even to Enkrid, it looked like a terrified, reflexive action, but the result was essentially a mutual death wish.
Humans can't fly. That remained true even after becoming a knight. The bird that had cast a thick shadow overhead had shrunk to the size of a human body.
He wondered if Rem would somehow strike the bird's head to descend, but Rem simply cut the creature's neck.
Once again, black blood poured from the sky. Splattered blood and falling feathers, a plummeting bird and one human.
Rem used the dead bird's body as a foothold once more and showed remarkable skill.
As he descended somewhat closer to the ground, he flew through the air.
Rem wasn't a knight but a shaman.
He summoned an eagle's spirit to keep his body afloat. It wasn't true flight, but when he spread both arms and hands, it looked more like gliding than falling.
The problem was.
"That one looks lost."
That's what Ragna said as he approached after apparently finishing off the Plague Ghouls. When Enkrid remained silent, Ragna emphasized it again.
"There's an idiot up there who can't even find his way."
It somehow sounded like he was excited about it.
"...He'll figure it out."
The black bird had thrown Rem far away. Whether the beast truly intended that is unknown. It was already dead, after all.
If it wanted to get one last hit in even while dying, it was appropriate.
But that wasn't cause for worry. He truly meant Rem would figure it out.
Rem wasn't Ragna, and a western hunter could find his way even in a Demonic Realm, so there was no need to wait for him.
For some reason, the Dark Fairy who had been atop the tower had left, and the shaman or high priest or whatever had disappeared too.
In reality, those two had vacated their positions because they knew this reckless group would have to fight until exhausted here.
Plague Ghouls were troublesome monsters, so they'd struggle dealing with them. And it wasn't just ghouls, was it?
Modified crow beasts flew overhead, and following the Plague Ghouls were monsters created through forbidden research and alchemy.
Above all, this side was inside a fortress surrounded by thornwood walls. They could afford some leisure.
From the Dark Fairy's perspective, they also needed to conserve strength after having shot arrows at them.
Their plan was clear and obvious.
Mock them from above after they'd grown tired fighting ghouls.
"Yes, you fought well. Now, shall you try playing with werewolves with four arms? Oh, my apologies. Did you see my 'elite' monsters waiting behind them?"
They would say this while looking down from atop the walls.
So there would be different difficulties ahead than when dealing with mere Plague Ghouls.
From atop the tower tree, they would shoot arrows and send out crystal-armored knights too.
Even Enkrid couldn't read the intentions of the high priest and Dark Fairy who had suddenly disappeared.
He simply had full intention to shatter their trust if they relied on those walls.
And though those two had left, the walls weren't completely unoccupied. Some shadows were visible. To Enkrid's eyes, those shadows seemed to ripple.
The moment he noticed that, he also realized Jaxen had disappeared at some point.
Jaxen would do what he needed to do. Then those remaining here would do what they needed to do.
Enkrid's mouth opened.
"Frog."
Frog didn't answer Enkrid's call. Instead, those large eyes just kept rolling around.
The walls, monsters, arrows, Dark Fairy, environment, situation.
She put everything into her head and drew a picture.
Frog Luagarne—she found victory in disadvantage. That was her specialty. A tactician who turned weakness into strength or at least into an even match.
Since all of this was based on Frog's unique combat sense, it wouldn't be easy to learn or teach, but that ability was genuine.
If she was someone who turned disadvantageous situations into even matches, she would display even more outstanding ability in combat situations where they already had the advantage and superior forces.
It was natural to fight better when advantageous than when disadvantaged.
That was the foundation of Luagarne-style Tactical Sword.
Enkrid had learned it roughly through dying countless times.
How could Luagarne not adore and cherish Enkrid? Combat sense wasn't something you could learn just by being taught, yet this bastard learned when taught.
Somehow, he grasped things on his own.
That stimulated Frog's curiosity and struck her desires, which was why she was here now.
As Luagarne looked at the walls, Enkrid also began a similar thought process.
'Siege experience.'
Enkrid recalled moments from past days when he'd attacked castles. There weren't many.
There was no need to weigh the advantages of defense or weaknesses of offense. There was no moat dug here, and it didn't seem like they'd pour boiling oil from atop the walls.
Instead, the moment they approached those walls, vengeful spirits wearing thorn shrouds would reach out and try to bite.
That was something he could know without experiencing it.
'It's not an ordinary castle, so we can't approach with conventional tactics.'
Normally, the defensive side would use the moat-protected castle as a barrier and send out raiding parties to cut off the attacking side's rear supply lines.
Defense meant blocking from home, while the attacking side meant camping on damp ground while striking.
'Generally, defense is advantageous, but.'
Of course, the opposite case existed. Tactics like surrounding a castle with little stored food and starving it out were possible too.
'None of that applies now.'
Our side was a small elite force with no separate supply lines, and the Thornwood Fortress situated in a Demonic Realm wasn't an ordinary castle either.
Though the thoughts seemed long, Enkrid's thinking was fast. Everything flashed through his mind in an instant, leaving just two core questions.
What did our side lack?
'The absence of siege weapons.'
Even if this wasn't conventional siege warfare, having siege engines like mangonels would be advantageous. He'd seen what looked like bone-made ballistae atop the walls, meaning the enemy had weapons this side lacked.
Then the second question.
Conversely, what did our side have?
'Nine forces called calamities—no, eight.'
It would be nine once Rem returned. So eight calamities and one Frog who knew how to exploit enemy gaps.
Enkrid's gaze settled on Luagarne.
Luagarne didn't puff her cheeks even once. She made no sound at all, just gazed quietly.
The ashen sunlight was disappearing. More precisely, it was being devoured by darkness. Pitch-black soot seemed to spread across the Demonic Realm's sunset.
Someone had taken a black brush and started painting from sky to ground.
Just before that black paint completely filled the surroundings, Luagarne's cheeks moved.
Gurgle.
"This will be fun."
Then came one statement.
"Let's smash through with force."
Luagarne's explanation was short and powerful.
She knew roughly what each individual on this side could do.
For these people, circling the walls in some half-hearted manner would be a bad move.
'Will isn't infinite.'
Even Enkrid with his inexhaustible Will didn't have unlimited stamina.
So now they just needed to break through in one go.
They had the military strength for it.
The enemy had underestimated Enkrid's party who had made it this far. The party had moved together clustered, then spread out in a long line left and right with the wall directly ahead.
Luagarne didn't think complexly. Sometimes simplicity was the clearest answer.
If they wasted time here racking their brains, they'd hand battlefield advantage to the enemy.
What was needed now was unexpectedness beyond expectation.
Something possible if you had absurd military force—that's what Luagarne wanted. The walls had no gate. There was no passage visible anywhere.
There were only thorns like awls that would make fist-sized holes if you got jabbed, and thin, sharp thorns that looked painful just to see.
"I'll open it."
Audin said while looking at the gateless wall.
Uwaaah. Uegeee. Weeek.
Whether from Teresa's sung hymn's influence, the screams of the vengeful spirits forming the wall were different from before.
One spewed something dark red, and that vomit pooled in a palm-width line below the wall. Were they trying to make a moat?
Another stuck out a thorn-covered tongue from its distorted face. That tongue's movement was like the whip Luagarne wielded.
Crack, crack.
The thorn-formed tongue finished preparing to tear apart everything approaching as it ripped through the air.
Besides that, some extended arms, and others tried to stab with split tongues after their faces split in two.
Well now, not a single one was staying still.
"Shall I sing?"
Teresa asked.
"Conserve your strength, Sister."
Audin shook his head.