Chapter 149
Fortunes of
War
Translator : PolterGlast
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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