The thoughts swirling in her head were nothing but questions.
Why was Yona even here?
Kaiyak was the first to think of it.
Sure, he was glad to see her, but Yona was someone who shouldn’t be here, right?
Yet, the reality was that Yona was indeed here, and thanks to her support, Kaiyak felt a lot more at ease.
“Incoming, left! Get down!”
At Yona’s shout, Kaiyak flattened himself to the ground.
Without a moment’s hesitation, as soon as he dove, he felt the mermaid’s tail slicing through the air right past him.
Confirming that Yona’s shouts had stopped as she moved a few steps back, Kaiyak sidestepped with his spear and charged forward.
The mermaid was shrieking, smashing her fists all around and whipping her tail wildly.
Most monsters are like this—lacking any real intelligence.
But the Lizardmen, including Kaiyak, were intelligent beings, so as long as they could avoid the mermaid’s overwhelming physical strength, they might stand a chance.
Above all, they now had a Healer on their side.
A Healer of undeniable skill, no less.
When Kaiyak quickly glanced back, he saw Yona weaving through the other Lizardmen, scattering healing magic everywhere.
He could see his weary and wounded kin find their strength again, each raising their weapons with renewed resolve.
The mermaid blinked her bright yellow eyes, surveying the situation.
The battle had been going on for hours now, and she thought with just a bit more pressure, she could wipe out those annoying lizards.
And after all, they were in the water, and the mermaid hadn’t crawled ashore yet.
Moreover, the black ooze was continuously revitalizing her body, so while it was a pain, there was no way she could lose.
The mermaid’s gaze shifted to the white-haired human darting among the Lizardmen.
That’s the one. Ever since that human showed up, the lizards seemed to find their fight again.
So the source of the trouble must be that human.
The mermaid raised her fist high.
Not just one, but four of her six arms lifted up high, striking down with all her might at various places where that human could escape.
Yona momentarily froze.
Had she forgotten that Alex wasn’t there as usual, or was there another reason?
She couldn’t tell, but she became stiff as she looked up at the enormous black fist bearing down on her, alongside a flat palm flying in from the side.
It was like she could hear a voice that shouldn’t be there.
It felt like a voice without a body was echoing.
– Yona!
And the moment she realized it was an illusion, Yona found herself rolling around snugly in someone’s arms.
“Yona, are you okay?”
It was Kaiyak.
Kaiyak hugged Yona tightly as he rolled through the gravel several times, which resulted in scratches all over his body.
“Ah, yeah. I… I’m fine.”
Yona slowly got up and looked around.
She could have sworn she heard Alex’s voice, but it felt like it belonged to someone not present here.
– Kooowwwwwww!!!
With a frenzied roar, the Mermaiden slammed her tail down on the waters of the shrine, unleashing her wrath.
In the meantime, while the Mermaiden briefly paid attention to Yona, she was bombarded by the concentrated attacks of the Lizardmen who ambushed her from the surroundings, mixing in their pain as well.
The Lizardmen refused to retreat now.
They were a race that originally had a very faint fear of death, and having grown passive due to injuries, their spirits reignited once Yona began to spread healing around.
Kaiyak charged forward.
The sidestepped spear was sharp, and at the spot he was rushing to, one of his kin was just pulling out a spear that the Mermaiden had embedded in them.
“I’m about to jump!”
At Kaiyak’s shout, the Lizardman, without looking back, ducked down.
Kaiyak stepped on the back of that Lizardman and leaped.
He swung his foot once more, using the palm that was swiping at him as a launching pad.
Once again into the air, he stabbed the spear into the Mermaiden’s tail for extra lift.
With a thud that echoed like a drum, Kaiyak soared upward.
As he straightened out his curled body, he wound the spear with all his strength—
Kaiyak thrust the spear down.
Cutting through the air, the spear surged forward and punctured one of the Mermaiden’s eyes with a sickening squelch.
– ………!!!
With an indescribable howl, the Mermaiden thrashed in pain.
Taking advantage of the flailing punch, Kaiyak used it as a launching pad to propel himself backwards.
An elegant curve.
Drawing a gentle arc like a parabola, Kaiyak flew back to the gravel, landing softly.
“Kaiyak!”
One of his kin brought an extra spear and handed it to Kaiyak, who quickly accepted it.
“I want to finish this, but hmm.”
Kaiyak glared at the Mermaiden with a dissatisfied look.
If there was a chance to dig in, he would immediately go for the kill.
But with the Mermaiden’s numerous arms and tail and her current rampage, even that wasn’t easy.
It wasn’t exactly easy either.
The Mermaid now had two choices left: to dive back into battle filled with rage, or to retreat.
The Mermaid, in a fit of rage, slammed down onto the sacred waters.
Black water splashed up around her, and the Lizardmen hurriedly backed away to avoid getting splashed.
– Kkewwe, Kkwweee, Kkhaaaahhh———!!!!
With a monstrous roar, the Mermaid slithered into the sanctuary.
The Lizardmen quickly tried to chase after her, but Kaiyak shook his head and stopped them.
The water of the sanctuary, as you could see from its color, was far from normal,
and what had once given endless vitality to the Lizardmen could now very well become poison.
Moreover, after injuring it, the backlash would be enormous; chasing recklessly could backfire spectacularly.
After sorting his thoughts, Kaiyak finally turned to Yona.
“…Um, sorry about that.”
“It’s… fine, really.”
The Lizardmen easily dodged the watery barrage, but Yona, not being a Lizardman, ended up soaked and looking quite the mess.
*
“So why did you come alone? Did Alex die or something?”
Yona’s steps hesitated as she pushed through the bushes.
Alex, and death.
The combination of those two words came with a rather unpleasant feeling for Yona.
She resumed walking as if nothing happened, shaking her head.
“They said I couldn’t come in here. It seems humans aren’t allowed.”
“That makes sense. I guess you’re not an ordinary human anymore, so you could get in.”
Kaiyak spoke in a calm voice, but Yona didn’t get mad at him.
He was just stating facts, and there was no need to get riled up about that.
“By the way, why are you still female? Did you flop?”
“Huh?”
From Kaiyak’s perspective, this was a legitimate question.
He had last seen her at the entrance of the Mage Community, and since he knew why Yona and Alex went there, it made sense to wonder.
Did she say she would come back as a guy, or not?
She couldn’t quite remember, but regardless, she came back like this, so it was understandable for Kaiyak to ask.
“Ugh… yeah, I failed…”
That seemed like the right answer.
Yona nodded, thinking it over.
It was true she failed, but…
“However, Yona.”
Kaiyak suddenly stopped walking.
This caused Yona, who was heading toward where Alex was, to stop as well.
Yona’s steps, heading towards Alex, came to a halt.
“You, what’s up? Why do you look so down?”
Kaiyak remembered Yona as the chatty one, even up until the moment they parted.
A female who proudly declared herself a male and would throw a fit if treated like a female, insisting she would definitely return as a male someday—she was a rather peculiar healer.
But now, it was truly strange to see her so devoid of energy.
“…Nothing much. I’ll wait for Alex. Let’s hurry.”
Yona shook her head and quietly began to walk.
Kaiyak, observing her back, kept silent and started to follow her.
“Why did it take you so long? Anything happen… Oh, Kaiyak?”
“Hey, bald guy. Long time no see. Been doing well?”
Alex greeted Kaiyak warmly, relieved his long-time companion was safe.
Kaiyak felt the same.
Waving at Alex, he gestured towards the Lizardden.
“Let’s head to our village first. We can catch up later, sounds like we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
With that, Kaiyak turned to leave.
Going straight through the sanctuary would be the quickest route, but a barrier was set up to prevent humans from entering. Just a few days ago, they had to knock out a human adventurer who crawled in through a tiny crack, so that option was off the table.
They had no choice but to take a longer route, and it was about to get dark soon, so they needed to hurry.
“What happened?”
“There were monsters in the sanctuary. I saw your Lizardmen fighting, so I went to help.”
Yona’s response made Alex nod.
It was somewhat absurd, cutting out all the details, but it wasn’t hard for Alex to understand why she would be late.
Still, at least she came back unscathed.
“You’re not hurt, right?”
Alex gently patted Yona’s shoulder.
For no particular reason, with no real meaning, he just worried and patted her shoulder.
“Hick…!”
Yona flinched and pulled away from his touch.
In an instant, Alex found himself patting thin air and stared at Yona in surprise, who looked just as confused about her reaction.
“I-I’m not hurt. Let’s go! We’ll lose Kaiyak.”
Kaiyak was already striding away.
Yona, unable to hide her fluster, hurried after him.
Alex, feeling awkward about his palm, followed after Yona.
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