1021. Yeah, nice to meet you too.
Pitch-black soot formed where Encred had disappeared. Without waiting, Rem threw a throwing axe.
The flying disc split the spot where the soot had formed and lodged itself in it.
Bang! Crash!
Two noises mingled, turning into a deafening roar that assaulted the ears.
Rem stepped forward with her other foot while keeping her arm outstretched. In the process, the neck of the man Rem had grabbed broke, his hand bones crushed.
She hadn’t killed him intentionally; his neck bone had simply caught in her elbow because she was too close while swinging the throwing axe.
He was a bastard destined to die anyway. As she pressed forward, a streak of gray streamed from Rem’s eyes. Reaching the soot, Rem’s brow furrowed.
What is this now?
“Who are you?”
She asks the same question as she thinks. Because she sensed danger in an instant and entered combat stance, there was no room for error in Rem’s thoughts and actions.
She acts the moment she thinks. That is the specialty and foremost skill of Rem, the master of improvisational combat. Soot answered the question.
You should ask about that before hitting, right?
The axe struck the ground. The guy dodged the thrown rabbit he had thrown.
“What did I do?”
Soot stopped turning into a human-like form and heard another question. This time, it was from behind.
Even though it was a clone that had fully inherited the devil’s power, it had been caught from behind. These guys are really dangerous.
“Would I tell you just because you asked?”
As he spoke, he manifested the form of his body. Soot clumped together to form texture and reveal color. He had two horns on his head, red skin, and wings on his back.
The horns resembled those of a goat, and the wings were covered in membranes. His skin was like the scales of a scaler. It was a body with a faint reddish glow, and by any measure, it was not an ordinary appearance.
“Don’t kill. Wait.”
This is what the fairy Sinar said as she approached without even drawing her sword.
The demon’s clone—or more precisely, the consciousness aggregate created by the combined power of the five Lords of the Demon Realm—was moderately arrogant because it had inherited power from all of them. It believed that it could kill them all even if all of them attacked at once. That is why the fairy’s words bothered it now.
“Who are you talking about killing whom?”
What is needed? Just the right amount of tension and confidence. Muscles expand, and eyes scan the surroundings. Fingers twitch, ready to fight.
The Assembly resolved to break the slender neck of the fairy first. Thought and action were simultaneous. Stepping with the left foot, it struck the fairy’s neck with the edge of its right hand.
The forearm stretched out, and scales rose from the inside, transforming into a blade. It had effectively become a weapon sufficient to tear flesh to shreds and break bones.
Tung, ting.
However, the Assembly failed to achieve its objective.
Sinar drew his leaf-shaped sword, gently parried the edge of the creature’s hand, and pushed back.
“Huh? He’s being pushed back? When did he draw his sword?”
The Assembly stared at the fairy with one arm pushed back. Was it luck? Or did he have a knack for blocking?
The creature spread the tip of his outstretched left foot outward and extended his right leg. It was a right leg extended by pushing off the ground. It was a kick no different from a whip or the blade of a guillotine.
It was a leg swung with the resolve and determination to cleave the fairy’s waist.
Thump.
A black, viscous liquid is sprayed into the air. The fairy has retreated before anyone realized it. It was outside the reach of the liquid.
The consciousness assembly felt a sudden emptiness, and its gaze naturally turned toward the lower body.
Why are my legs so short?
Before I knew it, what should have been attached below the thigh had vanished. From the shin to the foot, it tumbled to one side.
It was Saxon’s work. Just before the leg could be extended, he crossed two daggers and cut it. If there was anything to ask, wasn’t it enough just not to kill?
At the same time, Rem swung his axe. Lowering his stance to make it parallel to the ground, he swung it horizontally.
With that, he sniped off the remaining
leg as well. Both of their hands were so fast that I couldn’t even see them properly. The Consciousness Assembly slammed to its knees against its will.
No, since only the knees remained, this was how it was standing now.
“Huh?”
Surprise came before pain. He turned his head from side to side. On the left, a man with reddish-brown hair was looking at him while holding two daggers upside down, and on the opposite side, a gray head with an axe slung over its shoulder was visible.
“I ask again. Answer properly. If you want to die a peaceful death.”
The gray head said.
“What have you done?”
Sinar approached once again. Even though the wind was blowing, neither her hair nor her cloak swayed in the slightest.
Being a fairy, no emotion was visible on her face. She appeared to be merely an observer intently watching what the demon had sent.
Temares twitched his nose from one side, regardless of what was happening there. Although he was not a beastman, a scent that stimulated his sense of smell wafted strongly from the air.
That doesn’t smell like it.
To be precise, it is the scent left by a spirit or a being from another dimension. This is Temaris’s conclusion after reflecting on the scent and the current situation.
Did they send the person flying to another place?
When the soot covered it, the space was torn vertically, and something blurry and pitch black was visible, as if looking out of the water from inside.
Another world?
Temares muttered.
While he was thinking and opening his mouth, Esther pondered as well. Can you blow someone away in an instant? And if it’s a spell, someone who cuts everything down?
It’s a prepared trap.
It is also of a higher level than an ordinary maxim spell. He didn’t even notice it himself, and Encred was helplessly defeated.
Did you predict the path of movement, open a gate to another world, and send them?
Is it because ordinary spells don’t work? No, no. Correction. It wasn’t a gate to another dimension, but a place resembling another.
How is this possible? Esther’s magical intuition and knowledge guided her to a new world. Several clues combined, and a new concept she realized in the Tower of Magic Books aided her.
The starlight she had adopted as a symbol flickered like never before. It blinked countless times, stimulating her brain.
The witch who was said to be dead.
The witch who wielded the strange spell known as the Fox Hut caused a phenomenon called Malapais.
She possessed a talent for summoning spells superior to anyone else’s. Master Nelma of Astrail is the witch’s name.
It is not that the Tower of Magic Books could not kill her; rather, they could not kill her. Acting as if they could capture her at any time was a bluff.
Previously, they poured out all their resources and killed several mages just as they were about to snatch her up, but the witch Nelma crossed over to another dimension and escaped.
That must have been a challenge for her as well, and that challenge and success are part of the problem that has arisen now.
Creates a space similar to another dimension, opens a door, and traps them.
It is the true nature of the trap.
“Hahaha! I can die. I’ve already succeeded anyway!”
The five Lords of the Demonic Realm, the Burning Raven and the Promiser of Abundance, the Pure White Destroyer, the Loner of Distrust, and even the Father of the Dead.
They revealed their will upon the ego of the laughter-bursting Assembly. They added words through the Assembly of Consciousness.
“Did you really think we would just stand by and watch after suffering?”
This was a burning crow.
Did you lose one? That’s fine. I’ll take the rest. Come work for me anytime.
This was a promise of abundance.
He was a guy I wanted to fight. Though I won’t have any reason to see him now.
The Pure White Destroyer speaks.
The place where he is imprisoned is called the Labyrinth of Eternity. It won’t change anything even if I know, though.
Next is the loner of distrust.
The listeners guessed their identities but were not certain, but the last one revealed his identity.
“Ah, well, you get it if I say I’m the Father of the Dead, right? I really didn’t want to do this, but I had no choice but to get involved. For this, we even lost some of the power we were building up to become gods. I think it’s a total loss, but since we’re splitting it among five and they say it’s manageable. So you guys, stop ganging up on me. That friend left safely, didn’t he? I couldn’t even say goodbye on his way—I really was so heartless. But he’ll be fine on his way. We just need to make sure we remember the person who sent him off, and that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”
His tongue was so long that one wondered why he was talking so much. It was amusing, but it was not mockery. He truly went on at length and rambled with his excuses. Upon hearing his words through the consciousness assembly, the faces of the four monarchs were about to furrow involuntarily.
Opinions crossed within the consciousness assembly.
Doesn’t that bastard the Lord of the Demon Realm have no dignity?
Does dignity put you on the table?
Even so, there is no need to grovel.
Grove? What grovel? I’m just saying that is the fact.
Shut up.
The damage caused by this is huge.
Everyone speaks only of their own business. The consciousness aggregate that had briefly tasted the world was molded from flesh by a burning crow and given a soul by the Father of the Dead. Because he had received and transmitted the will of a demon, he trembled violently, black blood streaming from his eyes and nose.
Esther, who had been watching, approached and struck the creature on the head. One
might expect a question asking what she had done, but no one reacted. Encred had vanished. Based on that single fact, everyone shared the same objective. Every action taken by the witch Esther before them must have been to find him.
In the Tower of Magic Books, there existed a theory of briefly summoning the souls of the dead to converse with them.
To be precise, it wasn’t conversing with the soul itself, but rather digging into their past based on the memories remaining in their heads.
Of course, it wasn’t a spell that could be conjured simply by striking just any head.
As Esther approached the creature, she had already formed part of the spell and offered three magic-infused stones she possessed as sacrifices.
Yet, even with that, the success rate hadn’t exceeded half.
Lead.
Esther succeeded in casting the spell relying solely on her intuition and magical senses.
A round, blue mist-like substance with holes for eyes, nose, and mouth rose above the creature’s head.
“A way to unlock it.”
Esther asked. Her voice and expression were filled with the chill of midwinter.
“does not exist.”
How many questions are possible? Esther thought five was the limit.
It disappears with four questions.
There was no detailed explanation, but that was enough. That Esther had done something and, thanks to that, could obtain information from the guy right in front of me.
“If it were a spell, it would cut. But the fact that it isn’t cut means it must be a different concept. Then couldn’t it break free on its own?”
Rem sorted out his thoughts as he spoke and opened up a highly probable path. He placed his hopes on Enkrid.
“It is impossible unless he is a mad genius whose swordsmanship skills improve dramatically overnight. For endless death awaits him. That is such a trap. He will wander in the darkness and eventually despair in agony.”
Even this guy doesn’t know exactly what happens inside. The same was true for the five Lords of the Demon Realm.
Although they had created it themselves, they never considered release or a way out from the start.
If you get trapped, you die. They were fixated on that one thing. Well, some of the Lords did mix in their own twisted tastes in the process, but that was something only the guy trapped inside would know.
How do I get inside?
This is what Saxony asked. Because it was a crisis situation, his perspective on the situation was sharper than anyone else’s.
“As far as I know, there is no such thing. The only possibility is the way the witch acting as a medium opened the gate to the other world.”
In the middle of speaking, the guy’s face began to crumble and shatter like dry tree bark.
“What is the implementation method?”
The last question was from Sinar. Everyone spoke without hesitation. There was no fear in expending limited opportunities. Hadn’t we learned well how to face what had already happened by watching that madman, Enkrid? Rather than letting
the opportunity right in front of you slip away, use it up and struggle. Move forward, even if it means doing so. Not for the past today, but for the tomorrow to come.
Based on the witch’s senses, the five lords of the Demon Realm have permanently consumed a portion of the power you call Will.
This was the conclusion.
There were many ways. If it was a trap or a snare, waiting might have been the answer, but no one did. This
was especially true for the witch, whose senses regarding such matters went beyond mere sensitivity.
Everyone, protect me.
This happened while the remaining bandits blinked.
“Kick out the rest.”
Krang said.
“yes.”
The head of the Royal Guard answered and signaled to Learvan. Learvan approached the bandit with two companions.
“Damn it, run away.”
The remaining guys were busy trying to get themselves out of there, regardless of whether they were in charge or not.
“Send two guards to the Emperor to convey the message. They might have another way.”
Krang did not panic. After delivering the news to the Emperor, he stood there, watching the group centered around Esther. He
never imagined that demons, the lords of the Demon Realm, would have come all the way here and set up camp. Even Crys probably hadn’t anticipated this.
It was a moment where he hadn’t felt even a hint of anxiety. Had every moment spent watching, wary of the Imperial Emperor and refraining from attacking easily, been for this very moment?
If so, those living in the Demon Realm were truly insidious and cunning beings.
Are you going to lose just because of that?
Krang called out to his friend inside.
* * *
Encred wandered and wandered. The trap set by the Lord of the Demon Realm had a time gap between the inside and the outside.
A brief moment outside felt like several days had already passed on this side.
He was effectively stuck between this world—the world inhabited by beings like salamanders—and his original world. As he continued walking, he heard voices that sounded like hallucinations.
“Did you really think I would just die?”
It was a voice I had never heard before.
“My name is the witch Nelma! I am the one who imprisoned you here!”
The funny thing is, after wandering around for days, that voice was really welcome.
Right, nice to meet you too.
Encred greeted him warmly.
