I can’t buy any more time, probably no more than a dozen of seconds with this injury.
There’s no chance Cortina will make it back in time.
If I die, the children will die. If the demon makes it out of here, the villagers will die.
The demon ignored my hesitation and started attacking again.
I scolded my trembling legs and lunged sideways. I then tried to seal the demon’s movements with some thread around the sword which it forcefully ripped off.
“Waaaaaaargh!”
The demon sent out shockwaves to counter. I already took it once, so I was able to avoid it without much difficulty this time.
The timing was difficult to grasp because the flow of magic was so different, but I could still tell where it was going to hit by its line of sight.
Then I wrapped some threads around its neck but not enough to actually strangle it.
But with this, my preparations are done.
“It’s all up to my preparations…”
Once I gathered my nerve, I planted my feet. The demon was quick to not overlook that.
He threw his favored sideways slash at my feet.
If I avoid it, it’ll go back to being a test of endurance, but I don’t have that kind of time anymore.
For the sake of victory… I won’t dodge.
A large thread is pulled as it swings at my leg.
Thread snagged around the sword, threads snagged around the neck.
And all of that connected to the thread protecting the children.
The sword swung forward, connected to the demon’s neck.
The mythril thread was pulled by the demon’s own force, like someone pulling up a bucket from a well.
The result was the demon severing its head by its own power.
But that didn’t mean the sword had lost its momentum.
Since I connected the threads at the last possible second I couldn’t dodge the incoming strike.
The sword shakily crashed against the ceiling before crushing my left arm.
Then I crashed near the children.
The demon was no longer keeping them in check.
But that doesn’t mean they could immediately start moving again.
The children were still trembling in fear, leaking on the floor.
But a single girl came running up to me and started putting pressure on the open wound.
From all my past experiences, I knew, there was no saving me.