Slayers! Vol 1 Part 6

"Okay, then. Goodnight," I said simply, and closed my eyes. It didn't take long before I was swallowed into sleep.

I woke up not long after I'd fallen asleep. I could tell that much by checking the angle of the sun and how much I'd healed. Some kind of murderous intent was around, and it had woken me up, and it wasn't from just one or two individuals. Without the use of magic, I could sense exactly how many individuals there are, up to about 10, but right then I couldn't do that... meaning that there were more than 10 individuals.

"We're surrounded," Zelgadis stated. He didn't try to lower his voice... the enemy already knew our location, so that would be pointless. "The enemy?"

"About 20 or 30 trolls. Rezo's not with them, so we should be all right," he says casually, but I wondered if that was really the case...

"Come on out! It's not as though you think you've not been noticed! Let's end this now, Zel." It was a voice I've heard somewhere before, and I stood. Just as Zelgadis has said, trolls could be seen between the trees.

I purposefully raised my voice. "h.e.l.lo, Dilgear-san! It must have been tiring, having to march all the way here." As I expected, the werewolf stepped out of the shadow of a nearby tree in response.

"You remembered my name...I'm honored."

"How could I forget?" I said, glowering at Dilgear. "The things you said to me...you said I was more unattractive than a goblin, said a cyclops was still better, said my skin was rougher than a golem's, and I was smaller than a pixie!"

"...n.o.body said that much."

I coughed. "Anyway! In my place, Zelgadis will make you pay! Now, go, Zelgadis! The world is waiting for you! You're the man! Go for it!"

"...Can't you do something... about that personality?" Zelgadis asked, glaring at me.

"No!" I said. It's not like I was doing it for fun; I was only trying to dull the enemy's will to fight. Really!

"Dilgear, did you not swear to be loyal to me?" Zelgadis asked, though his voice has a hard and threatening undertone.

Dilgear laughed and blew Zel off. "I swore loyalty to the berserker created by the Red Priest, not to Zelgadis. Since you betrayed Rezo-sama, you're nothing but another enemy!"

"Oh?" Zelgadis said quietly, eyes narrowing. His expression was the same as a demonic warrior. "Don't tell me you, a mere beast-man, are thinking of defeating me?"

"Mere beast-man? Then, let me show you the power of a mere beast-man! Attack!" Dilgear roared. The armed trolls closed the distance.

Zelgadis smiled a bit. "Idiot!" He raised his right arm high, and made a motion as if he were holding an invisible object in the palm of his hand, before slamming it into the ground. "Dug Haut!"

I blinked, and screamed, hurriedly moving next to Zelgadis. The ground vibrated, rippling and flowing like the surface of water. The trolls completely panicked, but Zelgadis was smiling madly as he swung his right arm back up again. "Earth, obey my will!" Rocks and soil answered Zelgadis' call. The ground flowed and in an instant, turned into numerous spears which thrust up from beneath the trolls, impaling them. The fight was over as quick as that. Dozens of trolls were impaled by the spears, hanging in the air. Many were still alive, but with the spears in them they couldn't regenerate. Their strength would eventually fade and they'd die...like being tortured to death. I thought of saying something, but decided not to because I wasn't one to talk, really. Only the other day, I'd defeated Zolf's trolls with a reversed version of Recovery.

"Now..." Zelgadis said, still smiling that icy smile. "Hurry up and show me your so-called power...or are you too afraid to fight now?"

Dilgear took in a sharp breath, stepping out of the shadow of a stone spear. "Your strength proves you're Rezo's berserker. As long as you've got your Shamanism, I can't win..."

"Heh..." Zelgadis smirked, as if making fun of Dilgear. "It sounds like you're saying you can beat me with a sword."

Dilgear smirked in return. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Then why don't you try?!" Zelgadis drew his sword.

Dilgear did not draw his sword. "Once things look bad, you'll just use spells, won't you?"

"I won't."

"Really?"

Zelgadis nodded.

"Then you'll come to regret it." The werewolf drew his sword from across his back. The evilly curved blade glimmered in the light... a pretty long scimitar. I knew if I just stood there, I'd get caught up in the fight, so I moved back. With a great, b.e.s.t.i.a.l war cry, Dilgear charged. Zelgadis leapt to meet him, and their swords clashed, sparking. Zelgadis started to push the werewolf back.

"Heh...what's wrong, Dilgear? Aren't you supposed to be able to beat me with a sword?"

"This is the only the beginning, Zel..." Dilgear twisted his scimitar slightly, changing the direction of Zelgadis' broadsword. Zel slipped a bit, and Dilgear ran by, his sword flas.h.i.+ng. Zelgadis dodged the chest high swing at the last minute.

"That was pretty good."

"I'm glad you think so!" As far as I could see, their skill with swords was equal, but Dilgear wasn't as confident as Zelgadis. He probably thought that when things got bad, Zelgadis would use spells. It didn't matter much to me whoever won; I'd either become Zelgadis' hostage or Rezo's hostage, just a tool to get the Philosopher's Stone. The two of them gradually closed the distance. I could have tried to run, but if Zel had seen me, he'd have attacked with spells.

"Hah!" Dilgear jumped to the side, right next to a stone pillar, and swung his scimitar at it. Since it was created by magic, the pillar was unstable. It broke easily, raining sand and dirt on Zelgadis.

"Ack!" I hurriedly moved away as a second, then a third pillar was cut down, turning into more smoke and dust. Dilgear continued cutting down more pillars. Zelgadis was hidden by the sand and smoke, and Dilgear charged the dust cloud.

I coughed a bit; being an observer, I inhaled dust. I held my breath and covered my nose and mouth with a handkerchief. Aaagh, my eyes hurt too. While I was doing that, the two of them jumped out of the smoke, and the dust cloud started to settle. It seemed that Dilgear's attempt to hide himself using the dust cloud wasn't much use. All show, no brains. How common.

"That was ridiculous..." Zelgadis said, voice heavy with disdain. "I can't believe you're so confident of yourself. It's admirable."

"Shut up!" Dilgear charged again, but Zelgadis, who had been laughing haughtily, appeared to stumble. The two of them clashed, and Zelgadis' sword struck Dilgear's shoulder. I figured it out... when Zelgadis had appeared to stumble, using the fact that his lower half was hidden in smoke, he had kicked a stone or something at Dilgear. Of course it didn't do any damage, but it was enough to throw the charging werewolf off balace.

"What's the matter, aren't you going to make me regret it?" Zelgadis gibed at the beast-man, who was bleeding from his left shoulder.

"...Then should I do just that?" Dilgear asked with a smile. Zelgadis and I stared as the werewolf's wound closed as we watched. In the time that we're staring, the fairly deep wound was soon completely closed...not much time at all. "You had forgotten I'm half troll and half werewolf, hadn't you? If you plan to defeat me with a sword like you promised, then cut off my head...though that's probably impossible." Since he had a troll's ability to regenerate that probably IS the only way to defeat him with a sword.

"I had completely forgotten," Zelgadis said, though he showed no sign of alarm as he took a stance with his blade, and attacked with a yell. He raised his broadsword high and swung it downward. d.a.m.n! That left his stomach wide open, and Dilgear wasn't one to let such an opening pa.s.s by...

"Kyah!" The scimitar cut completely across Zelgadis' stomach. Blood flies.

...Or not. There was only a hard, sc.r.a.ping sound.

Zelgadis stood there, smiling. "You also seem to have forgotten that I'm one third golem. If you want to defeat me with a sword, it had better be the Sword of Light...no matter how hard you try, you can't defeat me." Dilgear's face was colored with despair. "What will you do? Continue fighting and die, or go back to Rezo and whine? The choice is yours."

"d.a.m.n!" As the werewolf moved back he took out something, and threw it at Zelgadis. However, Zelgadis moved a half step to the side to avoid the object, which fell in the river. "Remember!" Dilgear said, and disappeared into the forest.

Zelgadis didn't even try to give chase. "...How ridiculous..." he said, brus.h.i.+ng a lock of hair idly.

I welcomed the winner with applause. "Master Zelgadis, that was good!"

Obviously, Zelgadis didn't look too pleased. "You are so..."

"I'm complimenting you."

"Oh." He gave up on arguing, and walked toward the river.

"Where are you going?"

"To get a drink of water."

"Aaaah! I think I'll wash my face." I jogged after Zelgadis. As a result of the spell, the ground is all b.u.mpy and hard to walk on, but I still managed to reach the river, take off my gloves, and place both my hands in the water. It felt cold and good...but...hey! This was... "Don't drink it! It's poisoned!"

Surprised at that, Zelgadis spit out the water in his mouth. "Wh...what?!"

"It's poisoned. Poisoned! Look!" I pointed a little way from the sh.o.r.e. Floating down the river are several fish. They definitely did not look like they were swimming.

"But who?"

"It was probably Dilgear. The small object he threw at you was probably a vial of poison or something, knowing you'd drink the water."

"Oh?" He sounded impressed. "Dilgear's appearently smarter than I thought."

"What are you thinking, being impressed by that?" I retorted sharply. "Anyhow, this means that Rezo knows where we are now. Do you have anywhere to run?"

"No," was the blunt reply.

"Alright, then...come with me," I said simply and started walking. The destination was Atlas City, the goal was to meet Gourry. Maybe then our situation would change. At first what was talk of 'amazing treasure' and the 'resurrection of a demon-king', in fact just about healing someone's eyes and revenge. Things were much smaller than I expected.

Rezo and his followers' pursuit was relentless. They came twice in the morning...they came during lunch...they came twice in the afternoon...they came during dinner...and obviously, they came after bed. Just cut it out already! I can't believe how so many of them could just keep coming and coming. It was the neck of a hydra. There was plenty of variety too. Trolls, goblins, cyclopses, berserkers, ogres, and more. It was more like a parade than a pursuit.

Right that moment, there were the hunters as usual, led as always by Dilgear. There were several new faces, though. One of them was obviously a Mazoku. There were also warmanitses and durahans. There were about a total of 50 ogres and berserkers.

"This is a grand welcome," Zelgadis said, but his tone lacked its usual confidence. That must mean that the force before us was pretty powerful.

"Yo, Zel." Dilgear stepped forward. "Thanks a lot for last time. I've come to pay you back." He was one of the types that gets c.o.c.ky in groups. When I see guys like that I usually feel like blasting them with a Fireball.

"You're strong, but can you fight and win against this many opponents?" the werewolf taunted.

"Wait a minute!" I shouted, stepping forward. "Haven't you forgotten somebody?"

Dilgear looked confused. "...Who?"

Th....that JERK! "Me! ME!"

"What difference are you going to make?" He was completely belittling me. I guessed I'd have to show him what I could do!

"Hey, don't use all your strength," Zelgadis said, as if reading my thoughts.

"Why?"

"If you've used up all you strength when another force comes, or if Rezo comes, then that'll be the end of us."

"...All right, I understand." Then I guessed it was going to be a slow battle. Aaaah, how stressful! Oh well. I drew the sword at my hip. "But, how did they know where we are?" I voiced the thoughts that came into my head. We were heading in the general direction of Atlas City, but so they couldn't figure it out, we'd been changing our course often. Yet, they still managed to find us.

"It's...because of me," Zelgadis said, as if that were obvious.

"Eh?" I asked, looking back at him.

"I told you, this body was constructed by Rezo." Oh, right...Zelgadis' body itself served as a magical mark. I could cast spells which would have prevented searching by magical means, but in order to do that I need to know how the target's magic works. Basically, to have hidden Zel from Rezo, I would have needed to know how he was put together. But I was certain the spell was an original one by the red priest. Even though I AM the beautiful girl genius, there was no way for me to understand the spell.

I grimaced internally. "Then no matter what, sooner or later we'll have to fight the Red Priest."

"Correct." Oh, great. Circ.u.mstances forced me to follow that guy around, but maybe that was a mistake...well, it was better than hanging from the ceiling of a church...I think. Oh well, there was no use regretting what had come to pa.s.s. I'd do it!

I started softly chanting a spell. "Fireball!" My attack signaled the start of the battle. I'd omitted the action of placing my hands in front of my chest...as a result, the power fell a bit, but it served as a surprise attack, burning several ogres. The monsters started to attack.

"Digu Volt!" I cast my next spell, aiming for the Mazoku at the front of the group, but he dodged. Instead I killed a berserker, but that only served to draw the Mazoku's attention to me. Just as I had feared, the Mazoku changed its direction to turn toward me. All right, then! Come if you're gonna!

"Flare Arrow!" As I shouted out, nearly ten arrows of fire appeared in front of me. "Go!" From the front, left, right, and above, the arrows fly toward the Mazoku. Escape should have been impossible, but the Mazoku accelerated.

"Kyah!" With the palm of its hand, the Mazoku stopped the arrows of flame heading towards him. The follow-up arrows cut only air as the distance between us shortened. The others were all going after Zelgadis...he was in for trouble. Well, so was I! Even though he was low level, he was still a pure Mazoku, and they are fearsome opponents. He looked like a bald old man with a long beard and green robes, but his eyes were pupilless and he had no mouth or nose.

He let out a cry, and a fire whip formed and extended from the palm of his hand. I quickly cast an ice spell on my sword and deflected the whip in mid-air. We distanced ourselves and faced each other. "You're a very energetic little girl to attack me, Zorom!" I couldn't tell where the words were coming from, but that was what he said.

"You're a reckless Mazoku to fight me, Lina!" I retorted. Zorom chuckled. I placed my hands in front of my chest, and chanted as I stepped back.

"A Fireball? What a futile act!" Zorom taunted, charging.

"Whether it's pointless or not..." I held the ball of light that had formed with both hands, "I'll do it anyway!" I hurled the Fireball at Zorom.

Fuha! Like a bird, Zorom jumps up into the air, easily avoiding the ball of light. "I told you it was pointless." As I said before, a Fireball comes into contact and then bursts. A miss would mean the spell is a total waste. But: Kun! I raise my right thumb and point at myself. There's a thin smile on my face.

"Hm?" Zorom lands on the ground and the Fireball strikes him from behind! Guwaha! It bursts.

"I never said it was just a plain Fireball!" I shouted into the burning flames. When I was just learning magic, for fun, I had made several variations of spells. That was one of them. "As the saying goes, 'Never underestimate your opponent.' All right...now to go help Zelgadis..." However, just when I turned around and started running for the other battle, a sense of danger ran through my body. I reflexively jumped to the left, but it was a bit late, and I screamed. A severe, sharp pain ran through my right arm, and several silver needles had buried themselves in my left side. I hurriedly turned around to see Zorom standing there.

"n.o.body said I had died. 'Never underestimate your opponent', little girl." Zorom said, sounding as if he were mocking me. No, scratch that...he probably was making fun of me. "A valiant effort, but you can't defeat me with ordinary Shamanism like that." d.a.m.n...I didn't like it, but I was the one doing the underestimating. My right arm would hardly move. "Now it's my turn!" A fire whip formed from each hand...the left went for my head, the right for my legs.

"Eh?" I blinked, then switched my sword to my left hand, parrying the head blow, and jumped over the whip heading for my legs. I used to be called "Jump-Roping Lina-chan," which was a pathetic name. But the moment I jumped up, Zorom's forehead opened up, and from within it several silver lights flew at me. I couldn't avoid them!

With a clink, the silver needles fell to the ground. Eh?

The person who had come had done so with the timing of a hero in a fairy tale.

"Hi! We meet again, little girl." He winked.

"Gourry!" I shouted!

Chapter 4: This time, I'll show you my true power!.

"Hoho...a comrade?"