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"Hurry! Hurry, brother-in-law!!"
From his horse, a dappled gray, Nobunaga's rousing speeches rang out to me and Taishakutsukige.
It was only natural that the larger, roaning gray horses could run faster than the Taishakutsuki horses.
However, it is clear that Taishakutsukige's speed is also extraordinary compared to that of an average horse.
But no matter how fast Taishakutsukimo walked, the sound of approaching footsteps and trees being cut down from behind did not recede at all—in fact, it seemed to be getting closer.
Heavy footsteps stomping through the rich, decaying soil can be heard from behind in a steady rhythm.
The thought of that hideous monster I glimpsed just moments ago approaching sends shivers down my spine and gives me goosebumps all over my body.
And as goosebumps rose on my skin, cold sweat immediately began to bead up and pour down.
I'm experiencing a thirst I've never felt before.
The inside of the mouth becomes completely dry, and even swallowing saliva causes a slight pain.
It must be due to fear.
Fear is draining the moisture from my body in the form of sweat.
When I grabbed the reins of Taishakutsukimo to escape my fear, she shook her head as if to say, "I know!"
The light footsteps of the greave gray and indra's crescent-colored hooves echoed through the forest, mingling with the heavy footsteps approaching from behind.
Turning around, I saw a monster with outstretched wings, moving jerkily towards me—the form of a hawk.蟹股Bow-legged
Its body is somewhat human-like, yet at the same time, it retains strong characteristics of a bird.
Its entire body was covered in golden scales, and it had thick, pure white fur from its abdomen to its groin.
On the other side, a huge dorsal fin, reminiscent of a shark's, protrudes.
However, the biggest problem was the foul odor emitted by the hawk.
This caused my nasal passages to become so irritated that tears began to stream down my face.爛sores
But even so, the image of that bizarre monster remained vividly etched in my mind, and was being overwritten anew.
First of all, the head— how should I describe it? Perhaps it's like a hideous face with a beak attached.猿Aiai
Its eyes were large and bulging, jutting out like the ones you often see at goldfish scooping games at festivals. And indeed, its eyeballs were unfocused; it had misaligned eyes.出目金Demekin
Its ears are dog-like, completely black, and folded.
Its beak was red, sharp, and wide both vertically and horizontally.
And the neck connecting that grotesque head to its body—it's long like a giraffe's, but very thin.
(It's just like the Rokurokubi, a type of Japanese monster.)
Its shoulders are muscular like a gorilla's, and huge wings protrude from either side of them.
Its wings had only three sharp claws with webbed feet, and its membrane was jet black on the dorsal side and crimson on the ventral side.
Both of its legs are abnormally muscular, each foot has five claws, and like its wings, they are webbed.
A long, slender tail grew from its rear, and its tip was shaped like that of a fish.
The monster was enormous, measuring 25 meters in length from head to tail.
Its total width is 10 meters. When standing upright, its height from the ground to its head is about 12 meters.
Such a bizarre and repulsive creature, with its legs bowed and emitting a foul odor, is approaching at a tremendous speed.
Overwhelmed by visceral fear, Nagamasa's body began to tremble violently.
It can be said that this feeling stems from an instinctive aversion and revulsion, which is completely different from what one feels on the battlefield .反応response
Illuminated by the various lights emitted by the lantern-colored cat, it truly resembled something else.複合獣Chimera
Life forms in which the rules and balance of life that living things in the natural world should carefully protect have been completely disregarded, or even completely manipulated and destroyed.
A puzzle that was created by forcibly fitting together different pieces, resulting in a design that was drastically altered from the original plan.
—There's no way such a creature could exist.
Or perhaps, its very existence should not exist.
(But it's the reality.)
My thought process had been in a state of near-daze, but gradually I began to calmly assess the situation.
When faced with something that seems absolutely impossible, people tend to become calm and composed.
(And—this world is different from the one I know, even on a mythological level...)
Or perhaps that fact rapidly cooled down the boiling inside my brain.
Either way, what I had to do was clear.
Turning around again, I saw the hawk with its huge, bulging eyes glaring, its bright red tongue dangling from between its ridiculously open beak.
I couldn't help but shout.
"Brother-in-law! Please tell me about the behavior patterns of that...hawk!"
"What?!"
Nobunaga shouts back, but I yell back even more angrily.
"For example, things like how he hunts, how he starts moving early in the morning and sleeps at night!"
"Yes!"
On the battlefield, the one who calmly analyzes their opponent and understands their strengths is the one who emerges victorious.
And the person who knew this very well was Oda Nobunaga, the warlord of the Sengoku period.
He immediately understood my intentions and shared his knowledge with me.
"First of all, hawks dislike the cold, so they hibernate in winter. And when they wake up from hibernation, they start devouring everything around them indiscriminately..."
Nobunaga, with his legs bowed and moving in jerky, stammering movements, glared at humanity's natural enemy as he continued.
"These creatures sleep during the day and only hunt at night. And their eyes are sharp enough to spot anything that moves. It's the same as that; if you move even a little in front of them, you'll be preyed upon and killed!"蟷螂Praying mantis
"So—this guy's just woken up from hibernation and is hungry?!"
"Probably!"
In other words, if we organize and consider what Nobunaga told us, it would come down to something like this.
First of all, the hawk is hungry as it has just woken up. It probably attacked the Heavenly Rainbow Silkworm to satisfy its hunger.
Secondly, hawks are only active in dimly lit places. Nobunaga said he only hunted at night, but now it's daytime. Considering that, it's not necessarily true that they are "nocturnal," but rather that they "have a habit of preferring dark places."
Finally, it turns out that eagles basically only recognize literal "animals." That's probably why it's been crushing and crashing into trees as it chases after us.
(But if you ask whether it would be best to do absolutely nothing—that's too risky.)
For example, is there any human being who could stand before a hawk emitting a terrible stench without gagging or showing any signs of discomfort?
If hawks, like praying mantises, are creatures that react to movement—then they surely wouldn't miss such minute movements.蛙Frog
"Lord Nobunaga—!"
They probably came to check on us.
Sakuma Nobumori, a senior retainer of the Oda family, is galloping towards us on horseback.
The hawk's eyes darted around as it spotted a new prey.
"—So, there really was a hawk!"
Nobumori shouted as he drew his fluorite sword.
A flash of silvery-blue light erupted, and he raised his sword, still on horseback, to raise his spirits.
Nobumori's determined gaze and the swaying, flabby hawk's gaze, filled with primal desires, clashed and exploded.
"Lord Nobunaga! Lord Bizen-no-kami! Leave this to me, 'Retreating Sakuma'! I will surely buy you some time until we can reunite!"
"—A great cause!"
As Nobumori slipped between Taishakutsukimo and Renzenashimo, Nobunaga slammed his voice into his back.
Nobumori was a trusted retainer of Nobunaga, following in the footsteps of Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide, and was a loyal servant who consistently served Nobunaga through the succession disputes and the war to unify Owari Province that Nobunaga faced.
Although historical facts show that their relationship deteriorated and he was ultimately banished, Nobumori was the top-ranking retainer of the Oda clan during this period, and there was certainly a close and trusting relationship between him and his retainer.
"Brother-in-law!"
"Let's go!"
Going in alone would be incredibly reckless—just as I was about to say that, Nobunaga shouted without a moment's hesitation.
"We must move forward! We cannot leave our corpses exposed in a place like this!!"
"Damn it!"
Gripping the reins tightly, I cursed loudly, feeling utterly disgusted with my own pathetic state.
A sickening chill rose from the bottom of my stomach, and I felt as if it was about to erupt from every orifice.
I have never had a direct conversation with Nobumori.
However, I know that he was one of the generals who rushed to our aid alongside Nobunaga during times of crisis for the Asai family, and during times of crisis for Sugawa Castle.
We must help.
We have to do something to stop them from challenging that monster, that creature that's so twisted as a living being.
But even though I truly believe that deep down—my position absolutely will not allow it.
If I were to die in this place, it would undoubtedly become a major diplomatic issue between the Asai and Oda clans.
And that issue will undoubtedly escalate into an armed conflict between the two families.
Driven by hatred, the members of the Asai family desire to completely annihilate the Oda family, and—they will also sacrifice Ichihime, the symbol of the Oda family within the Asai family.
History teaches us this.
—No matter how much we call for reconciliation and friendship, differences with others cannot be easily bridged.
—And once an incident occurs that shakes the bond between the two, the previously friendly atmosphere will immediately vanish, and a new chain of hatred will begin.
"You damn bastard!!"
My roaring voice, squeezed out from the back of my throat, easily tore the dry mucous membrane of my throat to shreds, causing slimy blood to spurt out.
In any case, it was a dead end.
If I help Nobumori here, I will almost certainly die or be severely injured myself.
And Nobunaga, being a man of strong emotions, would not be able to abandon me, and would surely challenge the hawk himself and suffer the same fate.
If I and Nobunaga were to be lost, the marital ties between our two families would be dissolved, and the isolated northern Omi would become easy prey for the Asakura and Rokkaku families.
"Why, why did this happen?!"
As if to further incite my rage, the lantern-colored cats leaped and jumped around me, glowing brightly.
In that light, I saw Nobumori collide with the hawk.
(There's nothing I can do...)
As I nearly drowned in the foul stench emanating from the hawk and the smell of blood, tears welled up in my eyes.
It's the same as with Hikobei.
Even though you know the ending, you have no choice but to accept it.
Wanting to help Nobunaga and ensure nothing bad happened to him, he accompanied him on the falconry hunt—but there he was once again confronted with his own weakness, or perhaps the weakness of humanity itself.
Tears of regret at being powerless mix with the beady sweat on my face and drip down, obeying gravity.
"—Time to counterattack!"
As Nobunaga looked at me, weeping over my own pathetic state, he said forcefully:
"After joining forces with the punitive army, we will confront the hawk! A mere hawk cannot be an obstacle to our path to supremacy!"
All I could do was nod while wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.
And indeed, from behind, one could hear the horse's death throes, and the cruel sounds of flesh being torn, bones being broken, and food being slurped and chewed.