This Hero is Sleeping!

"KIEEEK!"

A screeching scream echoed through the lightless warehouse as the bat broke through the windows and rushed inside. It cared not for what it had broken through and made its way straight for the quartet.

"Chocolate! We need chocolate!" Elric shouted. "That thing is in Chocolate Drive!"

"What?!" Erika turned at Elric's words and asked. She had missed her chance to listen to him the first time around and had realized his value all too late. Chocolate he had said, so chocolate it shall be.

Sweet-tooth Erika reached into the folds of her cloak, pulled out a bar of chocolate, and tossed it at the bat.

And naturally, the attack didn't as much as blind it for a second as the bat evaded without batting an eye and shot itself at Erika with speeds that mere bats could never scratch.

A clang resounded.

Erika jumped back, and in front of her stood Claude, the blade of the Lord of Shadows in his hands.

"When did you…?" Erika muttered, shocked at the sudden appearance of the sword.

"It's not a normal bat! Erika step back and protect Puzo," Claude swung the blade and the bat evaded again. But he wasn't one to take it seated.

With the snap of his fingers, a dim light spread, and Claude could track the bat again. He stabbed wildly and swung the blade up. Like a monster or a beast, his every swing held aggressiveness and intent to rip his enemy to shreds.

The bat hastened even more. Claude's loud, formless swings could only chase the smart so far.

"Elric! Trap it!"

Erika thought it was a word for her and started chanting a spell, after all, how helpful could Mr. Mana three even be?

Before she could as much as begin her chant, though, Elric had already popped open his flask of water and splashed it ahead.

"He's playing around again!—"

The blob of water shot through the air and wrapped itself around the bat. The bat tried to break through, but before it could, the water spun at great speed and whirled it back inside.

"Now!" Elric shouted.

Claude held his blade up high and charged.

Small bats or giant orcs, anything that threatened his life had to go. That was Claude's creed and what had led him to survive.

In a display of grand teamwork, Elric slowed and moved away the water in Claude's path just a second before the sword could pierce it, making a path straight to the bat's heart.

That was their first and only mistake.

"KIEEEEK!"

The bat shrieked again. From the narrow gap that appeared, the bat turned into black mist and disappeared. Claude's sword pierced through the empty prison of water and stabbed to the other side, but nothing came in its path.

"What in the world?"

"Claude! Look above!" Erika screamed.

Claude and Elric shifted their gaze to the top, the dim light stretching far enough.

Hazy black mist converged under the roof of the warehouse. A dreadful, despotic, domineering air clamped down on their lungs and held their every breath.

The group could only blink, unable to fight against the pressure that stabbed into their skin and trickled into their veins.

A fluttering crimson dress that clung to her body. Its color and fabric like screams of dying men. Hair blonde like the sun, clear like the sky. And eyes, gleaming like the moon, cold like the night.

The woman, if its beauty could be called that, if its dread could fit one, licked her supple lips and stared down at them.

Puzo and Erika were left stunned. They were unable to react, from the transformation to the pressure she exuded.

But there were two others here who knew better. People who had lived not with just one foot, but their entire bodies in death's mouth. Having looked at their end straight in the eye dozens and dozens of times over the two years, they had developed an otherwordly instinct against danger.

And those two had the same thought filling their head.

The creature smiled.

"RUN!!" Elric screamed and sent waves of water rushing toward the woman. At the same time, Claude pivoted on his feet, clamped his sword in his teeth, and shot toward Erika and Puzo.

Elric ignored them all and eyed the woman. With every flick of his wrist, the ball of water would rush toward her.

He snapped his fingers.

The blob turned into a spear.

Right before it could hit, she turned into mist yet again and narrowly avoided it all. Dozens upon dozens of gears turned in Elric's head, from her clumsy dodges to her feral screams.

It all connected in his mind.

'She is feral.'

And he reached a conclusion.

Letting out a deep sigh, Elric used one mana point and summoned another blob of water before sending it at her as well. His eyes were fixed on the woman while he slowly stepped away.

Like cats chasing after a sly rat, his two balls of water swirled and shot at the woman. They hit, but she would block, they missed, but she would fall.

"Elric! Move!"

At Claude's words, Elric started tracing his steps back. Guided by his shouts, he moved by ear alone while his eyes remained affixed to the woman.

Could they run?

So what if they leave this place, she would just chase them.

He needed an opening. Something to strike her down and make their escape.

It was too late.

Elric's spear of water spun in the air and stabbed the woman's hands.

A sliver of hope appeared in Elric's mind.

"Ka… KAAA!"

Before dying out.

The blood that should have dripped down rose in the air, just like his balls of water. Like an arrow shooting into a target, the drop of blood rushed into the blob of water. Slowly, it was dyed red. All the water turned a faint red.

And Elric lost his control over it.

"Ah…"

There was no time to think.

Elric turned on his heels and ran toward the door, where everyone else already stood.

"Elric! Erika is chanting a teleport so just run!!"

Claude's screams took away the last of Elric's hesitation as he hastened his stride. Claude himself chanted a dozen different spells of light and flames in an attempt to hold the woman back or even kill off her sight.

Without turning back, without thinking back, Elric just ran.

Behind him, the woman screeched again.

She raised her hands—

Elric was just about to step outside.

—And stabbed herself in the stomach.

In the blink of an eye, tens, no, hundreds of spears of blood formed all over the place. The spears shot out haphazardly in all directions, their every inch enough to tear through a wall.

The spears pinged around.

Claude knocked off all he could, but it was nowhere enough. His legs were sliced through, his sides. Puzo stepped up and used his body as shield for Erika who was chanting her spell.

The haphazard spears continued to dance around.

The running Elric's cheek was grazed.

And everything stopped.

The spears, the woman's screams, the pressure holding them down.

As Elric's blood streamed down his cheek, all of it stopped.

They were left standing in their spots.

The woman's eyes followed every trace of his blood. It slid down his cheeks, off to his chin, and then, on the ground.

"B-b…"

Under the light of the moon seeping in through the holes over the ceiling, the endearing, enamoring, enchanting woman smiled.

"Blood," she said.