Heroines, Villainesses, and the Hero's Yandere Harem? I want them all!
Chapter 43: Barely.... Just barely

Chapter 43: Barely.... Just barely

"My lady, this is for your safety," said the knight she called Lancelot, his voice tense but controlled.

"I won’t stand by and watch you kill someone who, just like all of you, dedicated their life to keeping me safe," she said firmly.

Before anyone could stop her, she stepped forward.

"What are you—?" I began to speak, but she ignored me completely and moved to stand before the restrained knight.

She raised her wand, its tip glowing faintly as she pointed it toward the unconscious man.

"My lady, what are you doing?" Lancelot asked, clearly disturbed.

"It’s probably just mind corruption. It has to be," she muttered.

Suddenly, her wand flared with a brilliant blue light.

A beam of energy surged from its tip and struck the man square in the forehead.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream that tore from his mouth was not human.

He thrashed violently, muscles bulging, and it became clear that the knights holding him wouldn’t be able to restrain him much longer.

We need to kill this guy.

This is how zombie apocalypses start.

Kill the carrier before it spreads.

"My lady, stop!" Lancelot rushed toward her.

"No!" she cried. "I can save him! I just need to reach his mind!"

Whatever was controlling the man writhed and screamed at her intrusion. It didn’t want her inside his thoughts.

"My lady, we have to kill him—NOW!"

"SIR LANCELOT!"

A voice rang out from the tent entrance.

"What?!"

"Sir Geren went berserk. He bit five knights before we managed to take him down!" the voice was breathless, urgent.

Shit.

I told this bastards.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The guy on the ground—he was evolving.

"MY LADY, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Lancelot now stood frozen, torn between orders and the woman who had placed herself between him and the threat.

Fucking idiot.

He’s going to let her doom us all.

I stretched my hand forward. Mana gathered into my palm, condensing so violently that I saw its color.

White.

I aimed for the guy’s head.

"Let’s end this—"

BOOM!

His head exploded.

I froze.

My hand dropped.

That... wasn’t me.

I turned.

It wasn’t Lancelot either.

Standing silently to the side all this time was the other girl. Her hand still outstretched, faintly glowing. I couldn’t see the color—everything around me was black and white, after all.

"No... NO!" Nora screamed. Her body was splattered with blood—so was everyone near the now-dead thing.

"Lancelot... We have to go. Now!" she snapped. She ran to me, grabbed my hand—and just like that, that light feeling returned. Like I weighed nothing.

"My lady, please—get up!" Lancelot begged, crouching beside her.

BOOM!

An explosion outside.

Whoosh!

We tore through the tent flaps and—

Chaos.

The entire camp was ablaze.

"Fuck."

I don’t even know anymore. Who the hell dreams this kind of nightmare?

"Let’s go!" she yelled.

BOOM!

I turned to my left just in time to see a man literally combust.

I looked back at her.

What the hell is she?

How overpowered is she?

"Stop gawking, idiot!" she snapped, and suddenly my body moved on its own, feet running before I could think.

BOOM!

Another explosion.

I looked back.

More knights. Some fighting to the death. Some fleeing. Lancelot among them, carrying an unconscious Nora in his arms.

Looks like he knocked her out.

"Get down!" I heard.

I turned—

She grabbed both my shoulders and yanked me down.

Whoooosh!

It was like a shockwave blasted past us.

The trees—every single one in a fifty-foot radius—snapped in half like twigs.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Standing before us was a monster made of the land itself.

Yes.

The earth had risen... and taken form.

"Damn it," she muttered. "It seems the more nightmares we conquer, the harder the next ones become."

A magic staff appeared in her hand, topped with a translucent gem.

"Get ready. This one’s going to be rough."

SKRRRRRRRRRRR!

"Don’t let them get close to her ladyship!" a voice shouted from somewhere behind us.

I turned.

Hah. Great.

More monsters—smaller, humanoid, but no less horrifying—clawing their way out of the ground.

She raised her staff toward the colossal beast. "I can’t use celestial-rank magic here. It’ll shatter this realm and you’ll get lost in the distortion."

Wait.

Did I hear that right?

"Did you just say... celestial-rank—?"

She didn’t respond.

"Hear me, spirit of the damned... Rise from the ashes you were condemned to... defy the laws of Gaia... Hezmoria," she chanted.

The gem atop her staff turned black.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

The ground shook.

I looked back.

He had passed Nora to another knight and now fought a mutated treeman.

Yeah.

I officially have no idea what questions to even ask anymore.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

BOOM!

A hand—gigantic—burst out from the earth.

"Lady Elanor!" someone shouted.

"E-Elanor?" I whispered.

She looked at me, biting her lip, her expression panicked.

"What?!" she snapped.

Elanor...?

I don’t know anyone named Elanor.

But... why does it sound so familiar?

"Here!" someone yelled.

A monster had grabbed the knight running toward us.

But just before that—he had thrown Nora.

"Protect her!"

Goddamn it.

Elanor slammed her staff into the ground.

Nora’s body began to gravitate toward us.

"Sigh. Hold her," Elanor said.

Nora dropped into my arms.

Unrecognizable things were crawling out of the soil now—some had too many eyes, others not enough limbs.

"What are those?" I asked.

"I don’t know. Let’s get out of here."

"You cast the spell and you don’t know?"

"Just trust me."

She grabbed my hand.

The staff turned blue.

Whooooom!

We launched into the air.

Crap.

The earth beast roared and lunged, throwing its massive hands skyward to stop us.

"HOLD ON!" she yelled.

Suddenly—gravity kicked back in.

We stopped flying.

We started falling.

Oh crap.

The gem on the staff flaired red.

A gigantic fireball, bigger than anything I’d ever seen—even Leon’s—formed above us.

BOOOOOM!

It crashed into the monster below.

I looked down.

The smaller monsters were now fighting each other.

Whoosh.

A mana bubble formed around us midair.

"Don’t drop her," she said.

I looked down.

Nora was crying.

I held her tighter.

"Let’s go," Elanor said, grabbing my wrist and dragging me through the sky.