Chapter 149
Fortunes of War
Around
the castle in the center of Ronack, a moat far sturdier than the one
surrounding the city was laid out. To the leader demon of the Zwaarth
family, his own castle is likely more important than the city.
「Heave... ho!」
I
put strength into my legs and leaped with all my might. Even without lowering
the drawbridge, overcoming the moat and landing in the inner grounds was a
breeze. I could see the demon men who looked like gatekeepers panicking.
「Now then... shall we do this?」
In
the demon world, what the strong say is right. You guys have acted as you
pleased using that logic all this time. In that case... you have no choice but
to listen to what an even stronger guy says, right?
「Chain Lightning.」
The
lightning strike I unleashed tore through the air with a roaring crackle.
First, I treated the nearest demon to a lightning strike; the lizard-like demon
with smooth scales died instantly from a single hit.
Then,
the demon next to him who tried to fly off to report the anomaly died
instantly. The goat demon trying to report using a horn was scorched, and the
lion-haired demon who was trying to flee unsightly took a hit from behind.
From
the gatekeepers stationed there to the demons inside the guardhouse, about ten
demons in total fell prey to the lightning strike in an instant.
There
was enough lightning left that it seemed it could have chained with sufficient
power, but it apparently went out of the range of the split attack, so the
magic vanished there.
「I'd like to crush them all at once
with Light Arrow Rain, but...」
Since
getting closer put the entire inside of the castle within my search range, I
used Magic Power Perception. Then, sure enough, there were several human
reactions inside. I figured as much after seeing the demons outside.
「Wh-, you bastard, whose castle do
you think this...」
「Ice Pillar.」
I
shot an ice pillar point-blank at the demon who approached after noticing the
anomaly. The demons crushed by the overwhelming mass instantly created a bright
red flower.
「E-Enemy attack! Enemy attack!」
「Dark Bullet.」
「Guhah!? Why is a Hero here...」
When
I unleashed the Dark Magic I hardly ever used, the one-eyed demon
dressed like a butler collapsed with holes all over his body. Come to think of
it, I've killed quite a few demons, but my heart hasn't wavered in particular.
You
know, like in manga, there's often conflict about killing an animal that looks
human. But I feel absolutely nothing like that.
「Let's give it a try... Shadow
Arts: Blast.」
I
borrowed the weapons of the fallen demons, used the Dark Magic Shadow
Arts, and activated the Fire Magic Heat Weapon on them to
heat the targets. Even when I tried cutting down a demon with them, they just
purely cut with a hot weapon and didn't explode.
—Surely,
that's because even if they look similar, I know these guys are fundamentally
incompatible with us humans. If there's anyone from the Integration Faction
inside, I'm sorry. Don't lament me, but rather lament your own shallowness for
making this place your stronghold.
Following
the reactions, the place I arrived at was the living quarters of a certain
demon. In that quite spacious room, a massive amount of weapons and armor were
lined up.
And
on the right side of the room, a giant cage was placed... Inside it, there was
the figure of a completely naked, heavily wounded woman.
「Wh-Who are you!? Do you commit such
outrage knowing who I am!?」
「No, who are you? Didn't your
dad teach you to introduce yourself first?」
「I am Daxell von Zwaarth! The
heir to the Zwaarth family!」
Demons
have longer lifespans than humans, so it's apparently harder for them to have
children. But it seems the lord of this city was properly doing his job. Well,
since I'm going to kill them all, it doesn't matter.
Ignoring
the demon, I called out to the woman. Perhaps out of shame, she hid her chest
and private parts with her hands. The clinking sound of the chains attached to
her shackles was strangely painful to hear.
「...Can you move? I came to save you.」
She
was a woman with long golden hair tinged with orange and dignified features. At
first glance, she might look devoid of spirit, but looking closely, you can see
a strong will dwelling deep within her eyes.
「A-And you are?」
「Just a passing Adventurer.」
「You bastarddd! For a mere human...」
「Shut up, Railgun.」
A
line of lightning was drawn on the copper coin resting on my fingertip, and the
coin, accelerated along that line, turned red-hot and melted as it was fired at
supersonic speed.
Emitting
a raw splat sound, the melted, sludgy copper coin pierced through the
demon's stomach, and the resulting shockwave blew the demon to the edge of the
room.
「Alley-oop.」
Battoujutsu. A single swing of the Skeleton
Knight's straight sword cleaved the cage in two, cutting right through the
shackles of the captive woman inside.
Looking
closely, the woman inside was covered in wounds all over her body. While there
were no missing limbs, there were whip and branding iron marks everywhere, and
several of her fingertips were bent in the wrong directions. It didn't look
like this could be healed without fairly potent Recovery Magic.
「Last Heal.」
When
I used Last Heal, the highest tier of Recovery Magic I could use,
her entire body was enveloped in light, and everything from raw, painful wounds
to discolored brown scars rapidly healed before my eyes.
「N-No way, Last Heal, Ninth
Tier Light Magic...」
When
I draped the cloak I took out of my Item Box over her body, she gripped
it tightly as if to confirm the soft sensation resting on her back.
「...Can you walk?」
「Y-Yes, thank you very much... Look
out!」
「Diiieeeeee!! Dark Knight!」
「Light Whip.」
「Angyaaaaaaaahh!!」
I
knew this guy was playing dead and was still alive, so I just unleashed a
counterattack on the return swing. He can use Ninth Tier magic, huh... Calling
himself the heir doesn't seem to be a lie.
Well,
to use Dark Knight against me who can use Last Heal shows he
lacks combat experience, though.
Not
knowing that Dark Knight gets canceled out by strong Light Magic...
is he a fraud? He's probably grown up comfortably here without ever fighting a
strong human.
「Shadow Arts: Blast!」
I'll
have this guy act as my practice dummy. While manipulating the weapons propped
up all over the room, I used the Fire Magic Heat Weapon once
more.
「Darkness Fog.」
「Guh, to think Dark Magic
works on a demon... S-Stop it... Gwaaaaaaahh!!」
I
tried using Darkness Fog as a test, and just as they say, this demon did
indeed sense the approach of weapons even in the dark. It was the same when I
used Dark Knight, so there's no doubt that Dark Magic is not very
effective against demons.
When
I asked Mitsukawa-kun, he said there are things like
resistance skills, so demons probably have a very high Dark Resistance
skill. I wonder why I don't sprout one of those. This world is just full of
mysteries.
「Hmm, strange. Why won't it explode?」
Even
as I kept pouring more and more magic power into it, the temperature of the
weapons just kept rising, with absolutely no sign of an explosion. The heat was
so high that it immediately cauterized whatever it cut, so it might be suited
for prolonged interrogations and the like.
「P-Please, stop already... I
surrender. Why would a Hero come all the way to a place like this...」
「Sorry, I have no idea what you're
saying.」
「Heguuuuuhh!?」
Unforgivable
words meant to torture humans don't enter my ears, so I kept going, but yielded
no results. That magic is probably Lirica's original spell.
By
the time I finished my verification, the demon was already half-dead, frothing
at the mouth and rolling his eyes back. I was about to deliver the finishing
blow... but turned around. And handed the Skeleton Knight's straight
sword to the woman who had been watching.
「Will you deliver the finishing blow?」
「—Yes, I will. Please let me do it.」
Grasping
the sword without hesitation, she put her strength into it and swung it all the
way through. The body of the demon, who likely had considerably high stats, was
cleaved in two, and his reaction vanished from Magic Power Perception.
—No
doubt about it. I had expected as much since she was imprisoned by a demon, but
she too is a master.
A
human whose spirit hadn't broken even after enduring torture couldn't possibly
be an ordinary person.
「Forgive my manners. Former Legion
Commander of the Third Legion. Lieutenant General Calies tu Meyers, sir!」
「Well now... So you are Her
Excellency, the Lieutenant General. I am Masaru Kazuno, Military
Observer of the Grust Kingdom. Since I was already observing, I came to
crush the Demon Territory Zwaarth.」
「...You are a daring one.」
「It seems there are other humans
around, so I'm going to rescue all of them while wiping out the demons.」
I
excused myself with a "sorry," then grasped her hand and used Jaunt
to teleport together with Calies-san to the outside of the moat.
「Please wait here.」
「Please wait, Kazuno-dono, I
will also come with...」
「No, please rest comfortably.」
When
I grasped her hand, I noticed that her hand was trembling. Even though she
killed a demon without hesitation as a soldier, she still inevitably felt fear.
Besides, if the demon ruling over Zwaarth turns out to be immensely strong, I don't have the confidence to fully protect her. She probably read those inner thoughts of mine. She fell silent for a moment, then wished me good fortune in battle.
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