The two of them charged at Chamo. She smiled and vomited up even more fiends.
Trapped within a ring of demons, Adlet and Hans fought. Chamo stood between them in the center of the ring, her arms crossed.
Chamo was their only target. There was no point in trying to fight her fiends. But no matter how many times they charged, one monster after another stood in their way. They even blocked Adlet’s projectiles with their own bodies.
“Attacking separately isn’t gonna work! We’ve gotta work together!” shouted Adlet.
“Meow! I know! You come up with somethin’!”
The two of them split up and then came at her from either side. Adlet drew her attention while Hans circled around behind her. Neither of their attacks connected. Each fiend moved independently. There was no point trying to catch Chamo off guard.
The little Saint giggled. “That’s what everyone does. Trying to work together to get Chamo, huh? Nobody’s ever been able to do that.” There was no anxiety in her voice—she didn’t act as though she was in the middle of a fight.
“Can’t ya think of anythin’, Adlet?!” Hans yelled.
The world’s strongest man was unable to reply. A leech-fiend had come up from behind to spray acid at him. Adlet jumped sideways to evade it, but then a lizard-fiend pressed down on him from above. He cut open the lizard’s stomach with his sword and tossed the creature behind him.
Adlet was tired. He hadn’t yet recovered from his battle with Hans, and it was probably the same for Hans, too. The longer this dragged out, the greater their disadvantage. “Hans! Cover me!” Adlet cried.
As Hans sliced open a frog-fiend’s tongue, he replied, “I’ve got my hands full here! Don’t ya get lazy meow!”
“While you’re protecting me, I can think!” said Adlet.
Hans made a wide leap to stand beside Adlet, and then, as he’d been told, he fought off Adlet’s attackers. The way he moved seemed frantic and reckless. He wouldn’t last long.
“How long can you hold out?” Adlet asked him so as not to be overheard.
“Sixty seconds,” Hans replied.
“Once those sixty seconds are up, don’t think of anything else—just rush Chamo. I’ll back you up,” said Adlet, and then he fixed his eyes on their target as his thoughts raced.
First, he had to pick out an effective tool. Adlet threw a variety of poisoned needles and checked their effects. The sleeping needle and the paralysis needle didn’t work, but the needle that caused pain was effective. Next, he took the bottle of alcohol from its pouch and poured some into his mouth. He clacked the flint in his teeth and sprayed the fiends with flames. All the fiends Chamo controlled were aquatic—so flame worked, after all.
“Whoa, that’s surprising. Spitting fire isn’t something normal people can do,” Chamo said nonchalantly.
You’re the last one I wanna hear that from, thought Adlet. And then he pulled one more tool from another pouch—the one he’d used when he and Nashetania had been protecting the villagers, the flute that attracted fiends’ attention. Fire, poison needles, and the flute. Would those be enough to stop Chamo? Adlet doubted it. His plan needed one more thing.
But Hans couldn’t hold out much longer. They’d have to play it by ear from here. “Hans, go!” Adlet yelled, and he blew the flute. All the fiends twitched in response and turned toward Adlet. While they were distracted, Hans closed most of the distance between himself and Chamo. Adlet blew fire at the fiends that attacked him to keep them at bay. But the flute could serve as a distraction for only a moment. The fiends attacked Hans from both sides, but Hans made no move to evade them. He trusted Adlet, and Adlet did not betray that trust. He pierced the fiends with poison needles thrown so quickly his hands were a blur. The fiends shrieked, their bodies writhing in agony.
“Hope you’re ready for this, Chamo!” cried Hans.
Hans leaped. There was nothing between him and his target. But Adlet still didn’t think this would be enough. Fremy had been so terrified of Chamo. It would take more than a simple surprise attack.
Chamo smirked. “Dummies,” she said, opening her mouth wide.
As she did, Adlet yelled, “Don’t dodge! Block it!”
A large, armful-sized sea roach spewed from Chamo’s mouth. It charged Hans like a ball from a cannon. Hans crossed his swords to block the sea roach’s attack in midair. It hurled him away easily. But now Adlet moved—he made a beeline toward Hans and Chamo and then jumped, kicking Hans in the back with both feet. The kick offset Hans’s backward momentum to send him spinning in the air like a ball.
Adlet yelled, “Finish her, Hans!”
Hans soared toward Chamo. Chamo looked as though she didn’t understand what was going on as she stared at the man.
“Got ya meow!” Hans cried as he whirled through the air. He struck Chamo’s head with the flat of his blade. Chamo collapsed, and Hans landed with a roll.
Both feet back on the ground, Adlet ran toward Chamo. But there was no need to strike the final blow—she was unconscious. Instantly, her fiends lost form. They returned to their original mud-like state and, in only a few seconds, were sucked back into Chamo’s mouth.
“Adlet! Stopper her up!” Hans yelled.
Adlet pulled bandages from one of his pouches and shoved them into the unconscious girl’s mouth. “Mgnh!” Chamo’s eyes opened, and she tried to spit them out.
“Meow! Don’t let her spit ’em out!”
Adlet grabbed both of Chamo’s arms with one hand, and with the other, he stuffed the bandages farther into her mouth. Hans got to his feet and ran toward them to help pin down the squirming Chamo. “Stop strugglin’!” ordered Hans.
“I’m tying her up!” said Adlet.
The two of them discarded their swords and wrestled Chamo. Adlet pulled out another bandage and forcibly tied it around her head as a gag. He then removed his belt, using it to bind her arms behind her back. Even then, Chamo continued struggling for a while, but
