Volume 3
Chapter 9 Part
1
The Girl
Comes, Raising the Signal 1
Translator : PolterGlast
It was late at night,
when the autumn chill could no longer be disguised. Akira and the others were
in the mountains to the west of the Central Capital.
The flickering torches
scattered sparks, and the rising smoke wafted through the trees with
incantations to ward off beasts.
The Seko team, which
had gone ahead of the others from the mountainside toward the foot of the
mountain, must have found some kind of pack.
As the tension and
excitement of the mountain hunt lingered in the night air, the chimes to ward
off the beasts were rung in unison from the mountainside.
On this day, Akira and
the others, after being informed of the mountain hunt, had been forced to
participate in the mountain hunt under the pretext of their superior's orders.
Listening carefully to
the sound of the whistle blown between the chimes of the bells, Akira turned
his attention to Asogi Genji, who was waiting in the rear.
Jin and Saki, who had
been keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings, also glanced like Akira did.
"Commence,
insects, and many."
"Judging from the
yin-yang meter, they are not that strong, but that whistle sounds quite
flustered.
―I thought today's mountain hunt wasn't supposed to be
provoking that far into the depths, was it?"
Shishido Harutake, the
commander of the Central Capital's 2nd garrison, turned to Genji and shrugged
his shoulders lightly.
Although Genji and the
others were guests who had been authorized by their superiors, they must have
had some conflicting feelings about being on the same side as those who had
been forced to participate in the mountain hunt.
As they had been
spending their days together for a while now, they noticed how lightly they
were being treated.
"We're not even
30 minutes after entering the mountain.
It may be difficult
for the protectors, but for the Seko team, if they can make it to the midpoint
of the mountain, they will be fine."
Indeed. Genji agreed
with Shishido's point of view.
The planned start time
for the mountain hunt was supposed to be half an hour after the entry.
It was also possible
that Seiko had unexpectedly found a swarm of Kegare and was flustered.
And since they started
at such a shallow position, it was possible that they might just end up
provoking the mountain.
"......Captain
Asogi! The chimes were scattered, they might be devoured!"
"Looks like the
Seko team taunted too many of them.
―Uncle, I don't think they could even afford to send
out a distress signal."
In front of Genji, who
crossed his arms, Akira and Saki raised their voices.
The sound of the bells
chimes reaching their ears had lost their rhythm and became indistinct.
This means that the
spell to ward off beasts cast on the bells was not fully effective.
Although the details
remained unclear, it seemed certain that the formation of the Seko team had
begun to collapse.
"......This is
bad. We will send a messenger to the foot of the mountain, increase the number
of torches to ward off the beasts and seal off the mountain.
The main formation
will fall back to the border. ―Everyone, retreat."
"Hold on! You are
not going to rescue the Seko team?"
Yuge Kojou, who had
remained silent up to that point, raised his voice at Shishido's order.
However, he did not
look at Shishido.
Instead, his gaze
remained fixed on the mountainside in the darkness of the night.
"....... Isn't it
obvious? It would be foolish to endanger the regular soldiers for the sake of a
few drill soldiers. ―It would be the most foolish decision a head of the garrison
could make."
"I think you are
too hasty in your judgment rather than confirming whether it is dangerous or
not.
You know that there is
a time when a plan is ripe. Over-ripeness is bad, but green ones are
poisonous."
"Haste is the
foundation of military strategy. If we're too hasty, we'll just wait for the
right opportunity.
...... Therefore, we
will wait for the Seko team at the foot of the mountain until morning."
The strongest in
Takamagahara. Perhaps aware of the weight of this title, Shishido's tone was
tinged with respect.
But his intention did
not waver, and he immediately refused to say anything more.
Following Shishido's
orders, the surrounding people began to retreat.
―As Shishido turned on his heel to do the same, Genji's
voice was heard from behind him.
"You know that
we, people from the Shumon Province, have been permitted to make our own
decisions, right?
We're planning to go
into the mountains for a bit now.
......There should be
no problem, right?"
"Do as you
please.
But I will make it
clear in my report that you did not abide by my decisions."
Perhaps offended by
the distrust shown to him by his equals, even though they belong to different
parties, Shishido turned his back on them completely without stopping.
The only ones left
behind were Akira and the other five who had been entrusted to the 2nd
garrison.
"Fine by me.
―Akira, let's go for a short walk in the mountains.
We're going to pick up some stray drill soldiers."
"Yes, sir."
―Genji was in a bad mood as well.
But, with the three's
unhesitating response, Genji took the first step toward the path leading to the
mountain.
Weaving their way
through the thicket of trees in the mountains, Akira and the others ran up the
slope.
The slope was steep,
but for those who were exercising Aragamioroshi, it was not much different from
level ground.
Aside from the grove
of trees that flowed past them from front to back, Akira listened carefully to
what was beyond.
People running away
and several huge presences.
As the miasma drifting
from beyond the darkness thickened, he noticed that the air had become tinged
with bloody stench.
"......Genji,
about that Shishido from earlier."
"Don't mention it
right now, Yuge-dono.
―Akira. Your steps showed your impatience. If you don't
want to get hurt badly, don't let your mind get distracted."
"......Osu."
Akira, aware of
Genji's point, replied shortly while sprinting.
He understood it in
his mind. But an uncontrollable impatience leaked out of the corner of his
mouth.
The control of
spiritual power is directly related to the mental control of the mind.
After all, the mastery
of one's spiritual technique depends on how well one controls oneself.
Naturally, it is
impossible to fully exercise spiritual techniques when one is in a restless or
wandering state of mind.
―He understands that.
Regrets of his past
failures flashed through his mind.
Akira's own
responsibility, which he tried to forget, but could not.
―O, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho..!
""Hī
~i~iiii~""
A charming voice,
similar to that of a human woman, but still driven mad by the miasma that could
not possibly be human, accompanied by desperate cries of fear and terror.
Mixed in with the
night air, the stench of miasma and blood stung Akira's nostrils.
Spirit power responded
to Akira's wish, and lingering flames danced around his feet as he stomped
powerfully.
Kihoin-style Spirit
Technique, Chuden―
"―I'm going
ahead!"
That was all he could
say to Genji.
The swirling spiritual
force carved afterflames into the ground, and Akira was one step ahead of Genji
and the others.
"Oi, wait!"
Akira's figure, which
had overstepped its instructions and accelerated even faster, disappeared
beyond the trees that blocked the way, despite Genji's efforts to restrain it.
Akira's body has an
unusually high affinity with spirits. Therefore, the spirit techniques that
Akira uses have an excessive amount of power over him.
He was aware of this.
It was also true that he was worried about it.
"Damn that
fool."
However, Genji had not
expected that Akira would storm out of control to the point of disrupting the
formation before coming in contact with the enemy.
"Uncle. Let me
assist Akira-kun."
"Miss! ―Sorry,
I'm counting on you."
She responded to
Genji's instruction with a nod, and an afterflame danced beneath her feet.
Saki's body
disappeared beyond the trees along with the trail of the afterflame.
"Judging from the
numbers and the cries, I'd assume our opponents are Jorōgumo. They are small,
but when they form a swarm, they can't be ignored.
―Jin, follow Akira-kun and Saki-kun and stay with
them."
"Roger."
A consenting voice
returned, and Jin disappeared into the darkness, leaving Genji and Kojou
behind.
"Genji, I think
we should scatter.
We should worry more
about our surroundings now than Akira-kun."
"...... I suppose
so."
Genji agreed to Yuge
Kojou's fair advice with a tone that only left a trace of bitterness in his
voice.
The two of them,
without killing the momentum of their sprint, turned their feet in their
respective directions.
―Yes, Akira is not the only problem.
The miasma-tinged
sounds coming from the surrounding area were still resounding with excitement.
Jumping onto a steeply
descending slope, Akira ran down across it as if sliding.
The air was filled
with the fierce rustling of fallen leaves, and a creature stirring in the
darkness of the night turned its entire body to face him.
The owner of the evil
eye, which moved its eight limbs in wiggles, was a gigantic bug measuring as
much as 3.4 meters.
A spider body with a
woman's face that resembled a Noh mask.
Jorōgumo, a metamorph
of a spider that nestles deep in the mountains, threatened Akira with its
blood-soaked proboscis.
―Oho, ku, fu, fu, fu.
"H-Help!"
At its feet, the
figure of a paralyzed soldier, whose thigh had been pierced by its limb, came
into view.
The miasma, which was
becoming denser and denser, rushed into Akira's nostrils and turned into a
needle pain in his lungs.
Forcing down the pain
he was about to cough up, Akira swung his spirit vessel.
Kihoin-style
Spirit Technique, Shoden―
"Enga~!"
―Gyaaa~.......
An angry cry was heard
as a searing slash was released, causing Jorōgumo to be split into upper and
lower parts.
The miasma's putrid
poison was sprayed in droplets, further corroding the air.
The concentration of
the poison was so dense that a commoner with only the lowest level of
protection could be killed by it alone if one were to be inflicted with a
serious wound.
The decision was made
in an instant. Akira's blade severed the limb that pierced the drill soldier.
He pulled the soldier
away from the crumbling spider's body and kicked up a cloud of dust to take a
distance.
"T-Thank
you......" "Don't let your guard down, they're coming!!"
―They were still in the midst of a nest filled with
malevolence.
Akira dared to ignore
the clinging soldier and kneaded up the spirit power.
He controlled the mass
of heat rising from his tanden and infused it into his spirit vessel.
He held out the blade
that was raging with scorching heat and swung it at the shadows of the spiders
that pounced on him.
Kihoin-style
Spirit Technique, Shoden―
"Kyūshou!"
The dancing flames and
shock of the explosion scattered the swarming spiders, creating a momentary
calm with Akira at the center.
―It's not enough, burn them down!
As Akira suppressed
the wolf (instinct) that cried out arrogantly in the depths of his thoughts, he
turned his attention back to the soldier behind him, his calmness slightly
restored.
He then glanced at the
onrushing Jorōgumo, and then further stacked Kyūshou on top of it.
The spiders, which was
closing in, flew through the air, and in that gap, Akira pulled out an
earth-element talisman.
While the layered
Kyūshou repelled the spiders' approach, his left finger formed a sword finger.
He swung his sword
finger down to activate the talisman―,
However, Akira stared
in astonishment at his fingertip, which failed to sever the spiritual threads.
Without missing this
opportunity, the female-faced spider leaped at him.
The woman's mouth
flapped open, leaving Akira no chance to avoid it.
―Her teeth, coated with a miasma-like poison, drew a
viscous thread, and loomed in toward Akira.
There is no way to
avoid it.
"―Akira-kun!"
Violet-colored spirit
light danced along with the voice of a concerned girl.
Kihoin-style Spirit
Technique, Chuden―
"Hotobori
Garasu!"
The tip of the
naginata blade was sucked into Jorōgumo's abdomen.
No flames erupted, not
even an impact. Just a pure thermal sphere enveloped the area from where the cleave
was buried.
Even if the flames and
impact were suppressed, there was almost no way to defend against the pure
purifying heat.
Above all, the
Jorōgumos that were closing in on Akira were exposed to a spirit technique that
spread the inevitable nature of the technique, and all of them were
obliterated.
In this momentary
relief, an exhale escaped from Saki's mouth.
"Phew!"
"Thank you,
Ojou-sama."
Akira, who had
regained his composure after witnessing Saki's spirit technique, expressed his
gratitude.
The woman nodded her
head and her eyes flashed wide as she saw the talisman that had fallen at
Akira's feet.
"Has your head
cooled down? ―To think that you tried to activate a talisman while maintaining
a spirit technique."
"I didn't expect
it to fail......"
He knew what went
wrong.
The sword finger had
failed. Spiritual power dispersed from the tip of a gesture that he should have
been accustomed to.
If one were to use an
analogy, it is as if the left and right hands were performing different tasks
and the non-dominant hand failed.
The sword finger is
the basis of the Onmyoujutsu, the art of writing spirit power in space.
Its system is
fundamentally different from spirit techniques and requires great expertise to
be used simultaneously with spirit techniques, even if it is only to activate a
talisman.
A normal protector
would learn how to simultaneously activate spells when reaching the 5th-rank,
but Akira, who had undergone rushed training, had no knowledge of this.
Naturally, it was not
a skill that could be practiced on the first try.
No matter how good
Kanna-no-Mikura was, it was impossible for him to do anything reckless just by
relying on the divine protection, especially, when he currently so far away
from its source.
"Please be
careful. ―This is not Shumon Province, there is no Aka-sama who will pardon
Akira-kun's recklessness."
"Indeed,...... I
guess so."
It was Akira who went
ahead with all his might.
With no room to argue,
in front of Saki's stern tone, Akira hung his head down with a heavy heart.
"―Yo. Are the
lover’s quarrel over already?"
Saki, wondering if she
had said a little too much, put her tongue back in her mouth upon seeing
Akira's appearance.
Behind her, Jin, in a
tone of dismay, called out to them.
"L-Lover!? You
got it wrong, I was just was―!!"
"Yeah, you're
just teaching him, right? I understand that, but that's no excuse."
It’s so hot. Even
though summer had already passed, he fanned his chest with his hand, as if to
express his thoughts.
Saki was pissed off by
Jin's gesture, but she took a glance at his rear and her dissatisfaction
dropped.
The countless Jorōgumo
that should be coming toward them were somehow mutilated and scattered about.
Individually, they are
weak, but to slaughter so many of them in such a short period of time is no
easy feat.
There was no doubt
about Nakiri Jin's skill, even if he had to concede some ground due to the rise
of Ugetsu Souma and Kuga Ryota.
"So, ―is he one
of the survivors from Seko Unit? What about the others?"
"I-I was a decoy.
The others went down the mountain along the stream......"
"Not a bad
decision. ......I'll give it a 20 points."
Although he described
it as "not bad", the score he gave back was rather harsh.
Jin shrugged his
shoulders lightly at Akira who blinked his eyes at him.
"The worst thing
is that you will be intoxicated with self-sacrifice.
―If you can't even figure out how to survive, you will
always be a third-rate drill soldier."
Work hard. As if to
say so, Jin patted the head of the soldier and turned his attention back to the
monsters writhing in the night darkness.
The female-faced
spiders peeked at Akira and the others from a distance, perhaps they had
suffered from being hit by the previous spirit techniques.
"They are not
attacking us, huh?"
"Most likely,
they are laying traps for us over there.
It is a Jorōgumo's
nature to be tricky to defend against."
Saki responded with a
light tone of voice.
Jorōgumo is a
nest-building metamorph. If they were to venture into the nest without precautions,
they would have a hard time getting out.
A few moments of
hesitation.
As Jin turned his gaze
upward to the fading moonlight, something fell toward Akira and the others
through the night darkness.
"What is
that?"
―A large, round, sphere-like object.
Contrary to its
apparent size, it seemed to be light, and its approaching momentum was somewhat
sluggish.
Akira, who had
followed Jin's squinted eyes, saw it and his expression changed.
"It's a nest
ball!"
""!!""
In response to the
warning from Akira, Saki and Jin scatter apart.
As if shooting through
the space between them, a ball woven from viscous thread fell with a light
thud.
―Oho, o, ho, ho, ho~!!
At the same time as
the ball woven from viscous thread fell apart, the female-faced spiders that
had been lurking in the lair let out countless cries, both large and small.
Certainly, the power
of this metamorph is such that it would be easier to enumerate them from the
lower ranks.
But on the other hand,
their numbers are extraordinary.
Moreover, as long as
they have food, they can reproduce in the blink of an eye.
There was once a case
in which it turned an entire mountain range into its nest.
The female-faced
man-eating spider was a metamorph called Jorōgumo.
"Gosh! There's no
end to it!"
"But if we let
even one of them escape, we'll be right back where we started!"
Flames gushed from
Akira's blade and intersected with the impact produced by Saki.
Each time, the
spiders' bodies danced in the darkness and were purified by the fire.
"―You are trying
to exterminate them? Don't be reckless, Junior."
Jin, who had opened a
distance to avoid being overrun by the firestorm, grumbled as he dealt with the
Jorōgumo from afar.
Looking out into the
night darkness, he saw flames and storms scattering with spirit light.
It seemed that Asogi
Genji and Yuge Kojou had also decided on a plan of extermination.
They seemed to be
planning to spread the fire and burn the nests down to the ground.
"It can't be
helped then.
―Hey, drill soldier. You sure there aren't any of your
guys around here?"
"............Yes."
The drill soldier, who
was slumped over from the pain of his injuries, barely managed to reply amid
his fading consciousness.
Hearing this reply,
Jin took a step ahead of Akira and Saki.
"Alright.
―Rindo and Junior, stand back. I will handle this
place."
"Huh?
Nakiri-senpai?"
A gentle breeze and
dancing spirit light responded to Akira and Saki who were dazed as they
inquired back.
A whirlwind was
generated from the earth to the sky by the enormous spirit power reaching that
of the Eight Families.
".......Don't
come forward. In any case, I can't control it with my skills."
Muttering so, Jin
thrust his spirit vessel toward the sky.
Along with the
powerful gale, purple lightning crawled around the blade.
No, all the metamorphs
that lurked in the area were also entangled with the purple lightning.
A moment of silence
before the inevitable death.
Jinroin-style
Spirit Technique, Chuden―
"Shitsurai."
A roar and a flash of
light split the sky, connecting heaven and earth.
The impact struck
everything in sight and reaped the earth mercilessly.
A few seconds of what
seemed like an eternity passed in vain, and by the time their eyes had become
accustomed to the silence.
All that remained in
Akira's and the others' field of vision were the burnt and lifeless corpses of
the metamorphs.
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