I Won't Lose When It Comes To Gritty Persistence

“(The left battlefield is our loss…?)”

The last thing I do is check the right-side battlefield as I see it.

This side is the only one where my camp was proceeding advantageously.

My major pieces of Shadows on the right flank are three: a Minotaur (Rook), a Goblin Lord (Knight), and a Gryphon (Bishop).

The combination of placing the Gryphon—the only one that can freely move through the air—in the rear, and the brain-muscle combat types Minotaur and Goblin Lord in the vanguard was solid; they’d already wiped out the small-piece Saber Panthers.

Furthermore, the only remaining enemy major piece on the right battlefield was the Rook “Metal Golem.”

For Sobra as well, they’d used their left-camp major pieces—the Knight (Ruru) and the Bishop (Freya)—to hold me back, so their combat strength was limited.

If I could defeat the Metal Golem as things stood, I could assault Sobra’s main camp while retaining three major pieces.

“Barom—transfer the Ogre.”

“Gyaau!”

――But reality isn’t that kind.

“Goraaah!!!!”

“Kye――――!?!”

Windine, who had been fighting the Ogre, had at some point perished.

The Ogre, having annihilated the forces on the right flank, appeared above the Gryphon by the Teleport magic of the Demon Priest Barom.

Two giant swords stabbed into the Gryphon’s left and right wings, and it crashed to the ground emitting a piercing scream.

“Goraaa!!”

The Ogre’s giant sword plunged into the ground along with the Gryphon’s wings, pinning the Gryphon in place.

It then released its weapon, clasped its fingers together as if in prayer—raised them overhead, and drove them down on the Gryphon’s head like a hammer!

—Boom! Boom! Boom!!

After several blows the Gryphon’s beak broke, and its body turned into shadow dust and dispersed.

“Gooooooo!!”

“Gugya!?!”

As if in timing with the Ogre’s reinforcement, the Metal Golem’s steel fist struck the Goblin Lord.

It was driven into the ground that had cracked like a spiderweb, and then perished under the Metal Golem’s steel feet stomping attack.

“(Tch…this is bad…too bad.)”

The major Shadow pieces I had left were only the Queen (Vanargand) and the Minotaur.

The opposing Sobra camp had two Rooks (the Ogre and the Metal Golem), two Bishops (Barom and Freya), a Queen (Kukulkan), and a Knight (Ruru).

Two versus six—no matter how you look at it, the outcome is obvious.

They used Ruru and Freya on the right to hold me off, used the remaining defense-focused Metal Golem to buy time, and waited for reinforcements from the left—the whole strategy had been playing right into Sobra’s hands.

‘What will you do, Sid? The defeat condition is the annihilation of Shadows—Vanargand is not a Shadow, so if the Minotaur loses it’s our loss, you know?’

“(But—the match isn’t over yet!)”

In experience as a Shadow Necromancer, in the quality of Shadows, and in tactics—Sobra is superior to me in every respect.

I have to admit it.

But damn it—I won’t be beaten at being gritty.

I’ve always crawled on the ground and stood up again and again to survive.

That mindset—should have been passed down to the Shadows (you lot) too…!

‘Minotaur! Survive no matter what! You’re the last bastion! You’re the first Shadow I recruited—I’m the one who knows your strength best from playing tag with you in the dungeon!’

“B――Bulgaaaa!!!!”

The Minotaur rallied and handled the attacks of the Metal Golem and the Ogre simultaneously.

‘Vanargand! How long are you going to sleep! Get up already! Your power isn’t just that, damn it! Right now inside your belly is Rin, who brushes your huge stupid body every day! Don’t show such a disgraceful sight!’

“W—Waoooooooon!!!!”

Mentioning Rin’s name must have worked; Vanargand let out a long howl.

It wedged its tail between Kukulkan’s coils and, using only the strength of its tail, loosened Kukulkan’s constriction.

“What…!?”

Sobra, who had been certain of victory, for the first time lost his composed expression.

‘Vanargand, if they hit you, hit back…!’

“Waoooooon!!”

The tables turned.

Having broken free from Kukulkan’s restraint, Vanargand pushed Kukulkan down, disgorged a massive amount of logs from its throat, and shoved them into Kukulkan’s mouth!

They were logs left over from when we overzealously cut too much timber making a log cabin in the Goblin Forest earlier.

Kukulkan tried to create steel blades but was crushed by the sheer volume of logs.

As an extra—Vanargand also shoved in the massive boulders we had collected when they had blocked the road during our travels.

The Great Serpent’s body swelled as if it were about to burst.

The material Vanargand had stored inside its body wasn’t limited to just that.

“This is bad. Barom—transfer Kukulkan back to the base.”

“Gyaau!”

Demon Priest Barom, standing by the throne, deployed a magic circle, and the white Great Serpent vanished.

“So we treat that as perished in terms of Shadows, right?”

“Waoooooon!!”

Vanargand, having splendidly defeated an equal from the Five Great Demon Lords, let out a victorious roar.

“Well done, Vanargand! Kill Freya!”

“Waon!”

Vanargand dove into the darkness-dyed ground and vanished, connecting the Bishop (Freya)’s feet on the right battlefield to a gate.

Like an underwater crocodile devouring its prey, powerful jaws tore Freya’s torso apart.

“Aaaah—Gah!?!?”

With Freya perished, the physical enhancement magic cast on Ruru was severed.

Then Ruru began to spurt blood from her ears and nose as well, and she stopped moving.

Under the strain of Boring a Snake’s Lair, Ruru’s body had long since reached its limit.

They had probably been forcing it to move with enhancement magic.

Therefore, with Freya perished, Ruru’s body no longer obeyed commands.

“(I won’t let this chance slip away!)”

Until now I had been purely defensive; here I finally switched to the offense.

With vengeance in mind――I drove the Sacred Sword Balmung into Ruru’s neck――

――Slash!