"Yes, there should be an Abnormality with a [Golden Bough] rooted inside it."
"Haa... Still, looks like we've finally made it."
My guess had been right.
All that was left was to recover that thing called the [Golden Bough] and head back.
It was just one Abnormality in the middle. Why did I feel so uneasy?
"Gregor..."
"...When we get back to the bus, would it be all right if I taught Charon how to read a map?"
...I felt like I'd heard something similar somewhere before.
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me. Not a pleasant one, though.
"...Sure, sure. Charon will like that."
"There's no way..."
Sinclair shook his head and then gagged, as if the nausea from earlier still hadn't fully passed.
"Hehe, having somewhere to go back to is nice."
At the prickling chill rising over my skin, I unconsciously rubbed my arms.
"A most correct statement, Manager. Stop chatting and move your feet!"
What a consistent man. Seriously.
At this point, it was almost admirable.
Ugh.
I got up from my spot and joined the line of prisoners.
The unease still lingered, but retreat was not an option.
We headed toward the place where the [Golden Bough] was presumed to be.
There was an apple.
A large, luscious golden apple.
The Abnormality, a thing with short wooden limbs attached to a golden apple large enough to fit a person inside, was trudging around the containment room.
"Manager, your orders."
<...Ah, right. Everyone, battle stations!>
At those words, the prisoners who had been staring blankly at the apple all drew their weapons.
I gripped my own weapon and glared at the Abnormality.
And the apple looked back at us.
Or could you even call that looking?
Maybe it had only turned its body in our direction.
...Why was I even thinking something so useless?
Something about my own behavior felt off.
What was that apple doing?
"All right, here I go!"
Unexpectedly, Gregor, who usually didn't take the lead, charged forward.
Crack
The apple's surface split open lightly.
"Hup!"
Thud
My attack went in just as easily.
"Hah! How's that!"
"Charge!"
"I'll show you what art is."
The prisoners' attacks that followed also landed with ease.
There was no way an Abnormality could be this easy.
Slash, shrrrk, slash
For a brief moment, that thought crossed my mind, and then its body suddenly began to regenerate.
Hah... Of course.
Nothing ever ends easily.
I sensed the battle would drag on and tightened my grip on the spear again.
Let's see whether you win or we do.
"According to regulations, I will proceed."
It was Meursault who broke the brief lull.
Thump――
The moment Meursault's attack proved effective, the prisoners surged in.
Maybe we could finish it before it regenerated.
...I had thought that once, too.
"Hah, hah..."
The battle went on like that for a long time.
Hit, regenerate, hit, regenerate, hit, regenerate...
"When the hell is that bastard going to die already! At this rate, we'll be the ones dying first."
"No, wait a second. Manager, doesn't that thing seem like it's regenerating a little slower? And the golden light floating around it seems to be fading a bit too."
After hearing Gregor's words, I looked at the Abnormality more closely and could indeed see that the light drifting around it had diminished compared to when we first saw it.
"Every time it rammed its body into us, that light faded a little. Maybe that's the point where it can't recover anymore?"
"That does seem plausible. Dante, I judge that it would not hurt to verify."
At last, the end of this loathsome battle seemed to be in sight.
This underground is filthy and miserable to the very end. Would it kill it to let us have one easy ending?
"So all we have to do is hit it hard whenever it rams its body at us, right? Easy! Let's finish this and go back already. I'm sick of staying here too long."
Thud!
No sooner had those words left her mouth than the golden apple thrust its heavy body toward me.
"Hup!"
Crack
I blocked it!
And sure enough, its light faded a little more.
If Gregor's guess was right, this might end sooner than expected.
After that, everything moved quickly.
We blocked its attacks, its light faded, and by the time its regeneration stopped, all the prisoners rushed in and finished it off.
The apple could no longer maintain its body and crumbled apart.
Was the [Golden Bough] inside?
Yuri said,
"I'll go check it out!"
Gregor seemed uneasy about letting Yuri go alone, and looked like he wanted to go with her to make sure.
Gregor immediately followed Yuri, as if he'd been waiting for the order.
Something felt wrong.
Carrying the unease that had followed us all the way from the surface, I unconsciously trailed after them.
"Stay where you are!"
I ignored their words and kept moving forward.
As if possessed by something, I had the bizarre certainty that if I didn't go now, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.
While I was forcing my way toward them against everyone's attempts to stop me, Yuri had already reached the apple's body.
"If I can just find the [Golden Bough]..."
Yuri was walking toward it as if bewitched by something.
I started running then.
The moment the unease from the surface reached its peak.
Gregor shouted,
"Yuri!!!"
It was still alive. The moment Yuri drew near, the apple's shattered cracks lurched as if to swallow her whole.
At this rate, it was too late.
I reached out, praying my short arm would reach her.
"Gregor! Look, if there's a [Golden Bough], then I can too..."
Reach it.
Reach it, reach it, reach it, reach it, reach it.
"...Gregor?"
Crunch――
The apple's flesh devoured Yuri in an instant.
Ah.
Hahaha.
Yuri died in the blink of an eye.
The prisoners, myself included, couldn't even gather our wits over Yuri's death... or had we?
The thing that had swallowed Yuri began forming a new body.
From the cracks, maggots kept pouring out, shaping something face-like at the front.
Its limbs, too, were replaced by maggot-like things instead of wooden branches.
...What did that matter?
The one who was going to die was already dead.
A dreadful, perfectly reasonable statement came through.
Yeah, it was true. So why did it feel so fucking awful?
"..."
Crack, crunch
Gregor continued attacking in silence.
Maybe he was thinking that if he split the apple's skin open, the real Yuri might still be inside.
...I knew it was ridiculous, but maybe it was all right to hope.
Maybe there really was a whole Yuri inside that apple.
Ha. I really must be losing my mind.
To keep my slipping sanity together, I decided to cling to even that flimsy hope.
Otherwise, I didn't think I could endure this.
Then the goal was simple.
Rip the Abnormality apart as fast as possible.
With that thought, I raised my spear.
Whoosh.
Thud!
Swoosh――
Thwack
"Crush it!"
The exchange kept going.
The apple, having formed a new body, was easier to strike than before.
But we still couldn't gain any real momentum.
After Yuri was devoured, the prisoners' fighting spirit had fallen flat.
Not long after Dante gave that order upon noticing something, the prisoners' attacks stripped the apple's head of its shape.
Following Dante's command, everyone attacked the apple.
Thwack――
Crunch――
Maybe because its head had been broken, it didn't move even as we struck it.
Hah, we'd hit it quite a lot. Did we need to keep going?
Creak, creak...
Not long after I had that thought, its head regenerated in an instant.
Still, by then the apple seemed to have spent a great deal of its strength and could no longer maintain its full shape.
The finish line was close.
Whether it was escaping this damned underground, rescuing Yuri, or recovering the [Golden Bough]—all of it.
Gregor was the one who fired the signal flare for the ending.
[My arm... had changed.]
Gregor used E.G.O.
As he muttered those words, his right arm transformed into the arm of a giant monster, and
Boom!!
with a tremendous impact, that arm exposed the apple's weakness with perfect precision.
"Everyone, attack the body!"
"According to regulations, I will proceed."
Thwack――
"Charge!"
Thud
Following Otis's words, the prisoners swiftly attacked it.
And then...
Not long after, the maggots let out silent screams and collapsed.