Part IV
◆
In an abandoned village a dozen kilometers away from Mathew’s troops, Niezbeck grinned at the center of the magic circle.
“Kukuku, this is it. The weak ability users of the agency. Go, Garm, the watchdog of hell! Rip their guts out! Kill Mathew and the rest of them! Ha-ha-ha!”
Niezbeck laughed maniacally as his tongue, split in two at the tip, extended from his mouth and licked his neck, which was smeared with blood, and with a sweet expression, put his magic into the magic circle.
Niezbeck had summoned a super-ranked demon beast, the Garm.
It is a huge wolf-like body that is more than ten meters long, with blood-red glowing eyes and no pupils.
It had hundreds of fangs like big swords gushing from its mouth, and four claws the size of military motorcycles protruding from each of its four legs that supported its massive frame.
When summoning Garm, Niezbeck had reduced the hundreds of demons he had summoned to half their number, as unnoticed as possible.
Summoning a super-ranked demon beast like Garm takes a tremendous burden. And Garm is a magical beast that could devour even the summoner himself.
But the truth is that even this Garm was not yet summoned at its full potential. The original Garm is far too powerful to be summoned into this world, and it requires power beyond human comprehension.
In the first place, it is not a magical beast that can be handled by humans.
However, Niezbeck can summon a portion of Garm’s power for a few hours in exchange for a large amount of magical power and sacrifice.
In fact, he was almost killed when he made the deal with Garm.
At that time, Niezbeck was told by Garm.
{O petty mortal. If you want to borrow my power, every time you summon me, you must give me not only your magic power but also your sacrifice. Then I’ll make a special arrangement for you, a bloodline linked to the Evil God.}
The words echoed directly in his brain. Crawling from the shock of the contract summoning, and incontinently on the verge of death, Niezbeck nodded repeatedly at Garm’s offer.
The sacrifice Garm was referring to was a …… human heart.
And the more hearts there are, the more powerful the power can be manifested. Now, behind Niezbeck lay many of the …… hearts of the abandoned villagers, or rather, of the inhabitants of the abandoned village.
The first thing he did, confident of victory, was to turn Garm towards Mathew’s soldiers who were in deep pursuit of him. Through Garm’s eyes, he could see the terrified Mathew’s minions desperately firing their guns, kicking them away as if they were twigs.
The mere sight of Garm was enough to send the soldiers into a state of fear just before they fainted and lost all sense of normal judgment.
Garm loves human fear. It gleefully feeds on the fear of the soldiers, tearing their bodies apart with its claws and crushing them. The soldiers scattered like overripe tomatoes.
“Hahahaha! I can feel it! Garm’s joy! The satisfaction of filling his hunger!”
Mathew’s forces were kicked to the curb so easily that they were no longer working together as an organization. Some were fleeing aimlessly, while others were screaming and slamming their firearms into Garm.
Garm opened his huge jaws, which seemed to be the entrance to hell, and inhaled as if he was going to create a storm, and the fleeing soldiers were swallowed by Garm’s mouth against their will.
The scene had become a crucible of screaming and shouting, a hell that could no longer be called a battlefield.
As Garum stopped sucking in, the bodies of several soldiers who were desperately clinging to the tree to keep from being swallowed fell to the ground. And then Mathew’s soldiers saw it.
“Aaahhhh… ……”
A mass of dim darkness spread out from Garm’s jaws, which were opened about 180 degrees vertically.
Now, the darkness that serves as the boundary between this world and the next is about to be expelled from his jaws.
The soldiers, who are supposed to be strong and elite troops, who witnessed this, shed tears and laughed out of sheer terror. Right now, the soldiers were seeing the despair in its real form.
Just when Garm was about to spit out the mass of darkness called despair, …….
A dazzling light descended in front of its eyes.
The light then spread to the left and right and surrounded Garm’s huge body like a curtain.
“Mu! What the !?”
Niezbeck sensed a clear spiritual power above the magic circle.
” Nothing to it! Do it, Garm!”
Niezbeck shouted, and Garm spat out a huge mass of darkness from his mouth. The roar of the darkness was blocked by the curtain of light in front of him.
The mass of darkness had nowhere to go, and it diffused and amplified within the curtain of light that surrounded Garm, causing a huge explosion. And Mathew’s troops shielded their eyes from the blinding light.
With their hearing temporarily rendered useless by the tremors that made it impossible to stand still and the tremendous sound of the explosion, the soldiers had no idea what had just happened.
The sound of the impact reverberated through the surrounding mountains, indicating the ferocity of the explosion.
Their fears were blown away by the sudden change in the situation, and they began to use their sight, which was still functioning, to see what was going on.
Then, in front of the soldiers stood a blonde girl wearing an emerald green vestment that gave the impression of holiness just by looking at …….
It was not any normal robe, but the soldiers immediately understood who the blonde girl was.
Marion looked back at Mathew’s soldiers with Garm behind her, who had been ravaged from jaw to body by the explosion.
“Everyone, leave this to me and retreat to General Mathew! Hurry up!”
“Oh …… oh …… ohhh! Shurian-sama–! Thank you for your help–!”
The soldiers cheered as they roused their physically and mentally exhausted bodies.
“Hurry up! The main force is over there! If we suppress this place, we will be victorious! Everyone, please follow the plan!”
“U-Understood! All hands, back to the main body! Hurry up!”
The soldiers regained their energy at the sound of Marion’s strident voice and began to move.
And as they moved, they saluted Marion.
“Shurian-sama, ……, please stay safe.”
“I’m fine. Let me punish this doggy for you!”
Marion smiled as she said this. When Marion called this ten-plus meter tall demon wolf a doggie, the soldiers were stunned and laughed bitterly, completely regaining their senses.
“See you later!”
The platoon leader replied, leading his men and running towards the main army.
Marion gazed at the back of the soldiers and felt a sense of déjà vu that had just occurred to her. She had dared to call Garm a doggie, and she had taken care to remove the fear from the soldiers. For some reason, that seemed to be what they needed to do here.
( Previously ……, yes, that was during the Rookie exam, someone had taken care of me in battle too. So it occurred to me to mimic that now. At that time …… I was ……)
The itch that had suddenly sprung up enveloped her, but Marion quickly shook it off and turned her body to face Garm.
Garm’s injured body could be seen recovering at breakneck speed.
Marion put her hand into the collar of her emerald green vestments. And took out a crossed dagger in a sheath studded with emeralds and Macalites.[TN: Macalite(マカライト) is a bluish-green color stone, it’s also an ore that appears in Monster Hunter, and here’s the –>link<– where you can look into it or even buy it.]
” Now, Rafael’s vestment …… go! Protect me and those with me!”
“You little exorcist!”
Niezbeck shuddered in anger and spat out a bloody spit.
He was breathing heavily and pulled out a large, suspiciously embroidered box that was placed in front of the magic circle. He then opens the box and carelessly plunges his bruised right hand into it and pulls out a lump of flesh wet with red liquid.
” I won’t tolerate this! Little girl! I’m not going to kill you right away,……, I’m going to tear you apart, and then I’m going to eat your friends one by one right in front of you, and then I’m going to let the demonic insects slowly suck your brains out!”
He lifted the blood dripping heart to his eye level and grasped the lump of minced meat with his shallow black right hand as if kneading it. The pieces of flesh and blood splattered vigorously and stuck to Niezbeck’s face and body, causing the magic circle to glow mysteriously.
“Garum! Go! I will show you the living hell!”
As he shouted this, Niezbeck used his long, split-edged tongue to remove the pieces of flesh from his face.
◆
Hiroto was approaching the immediate vicinity of Mathew’s troops. After confirming the third point, he had a bad feeling about the lack of radio communication and headed towards Mathew’s escort unit’s main body at breakneck speed.
However, he was momentarily lost when he detected a tremendous explosion and impact sound immediately afterward and tried to steer in that direction. This was because he thought that Mizuho and Marion were fighting in the direction of the noise.
But right after that, he saw three flare guns fired in succession, apparently from the Mathew unit, in the direction he was originally heading.
Moreover, the flare guns were not fired directly above them, but clearly in his direction.
(Is that …… perhaps for me?)
Hiroto was troubled for a moment. The impact sound just now is clearly a collision of a great technique between ability users. If so, there is a high possibility that Mizuho is fighting there.
(But then, what’s the point of the flare guns? Normally, you don’t shoot three signal bombs at low altitude.)
Hiroto thought …….
He doesn’t know why, but the radio is not working. Perhaps there’s something unforeseen going on where Mizuho is involved. It could be because of the enemy’s large demon.
However, the purpose of this operation is to defeat the enemy ability user. And to carry out the operation, they needed information from Hiroto. Since there is no radio communication, Mizuho and the others must be having a hard time getting in touch with Hiroto.
( A flare gun that shot in the direction I’m in……, there’s a good chance Mizuho-san is in that direction!)
Hiroto then made his decision. As he had originally planned, he continued to run towards Mathew’s main unit.
As soon as he did so, he became convinced.
From the direction where the flare shot had come from, he sensed a powerful spiritual force converging.
Because of this, there wouldn’t be much time loss for Mizuho and Hiroto to meet up. Mizuho’s quick thinking had paid off.
(This spiritual power is Mizuho-san’s! Then the impact of the battle earlier was Marion-san! Why are they splitting into two groups? And Marion-san’s on the front line?
Hiroto wondered what was going on.
( No, that’s not what I should be thinking about right now. …… This concentration of power is the one that believed I was coming and started preparing for the big move! Then what I have to do is ……)
Hiroto took out the map with the hand that was not holding Ihaku while running. He checked the predicted location of the enemy ability user and Mizuho’s location.
( It’s about 750 meters south-southeast of Mizuho-san’s location! There’s no guarantee that the enemy won’t move during this time. I’ll have to get Mizuho-san now!)
Hiroto could see the end of the forest ahead of him, with an open road beyond it.
He jumped out of the forest at once and turned his head in the direction where he felt Mizuho’s power.
Mizuho was very close to where Hiroto had jumped out.
Their eyes met immediately.
“Hiroto!”
“I know! Mizuho-san, tell me the situation as we move! I’ll take you to the enemy’s location! And get ready for the big move!”
Hiroto ran up to Mizuho without slowing down his running speed.
“‘The preparations are almost done! Where is the enemy, ……! Hey! Hiya!”
“Sorry! I’ll take Mizuho-san as is! Just be patient!”
Hiroto approached her with great speed and picked her up with both hands.
Mizuho panicked because she never imagined that she would be taken to the enemy’s location while being held in a princess carry.
(I-Is this how we’re going to move!? Hi-Hiroto’s face is close ……)
“Mizuho-san! We’re in a hurry, so try not to fall! And what’s the situation? Where’s Marion-san?”
“Yes! That’s right! Right now ……”
With Mizuho in his arms, Hiroto ran through the troops along the north-south road, while the situation was explained to him. Mizuho told him about the missing radio and that Marion was headed for the enemy’s main spot, among other things.
“…… I understand. Mizuho-san, let us strike a blow to the enemy ability user and immediately head for Marion-san’s cover! I think you made the right decision, Mizuho-san! Let’s hope that our predictions are correct. We’re not going to waste this time that Marion-san has made!”
Mizuho put her hands around his neck to prevent herself from falling off Hiroto who was moving fast and looked up at his face.
Hiroto’s words seemed to indicate that he was worried about Marion but still determined to make the mission a success.
However, she knew that these words were exactly how he felt.
“Yeah! We will surely defeat them! Are the enemies as expected?”
“Yes! As long as they are not moving, there is more than a ninety percent chance that the enemy will be in position south-southeast of the unit!
Gwen relayed Mizuho’s instructions to TeinTan and stayed near the armored car where Mathew was.
Tientan ordered all the troops to retreat as instructed by Mizuho and as they concentrated their forces around Mathew, their allies began to gather one after another, preparing for an attack from the enemy.
The enemy demons were already attacking sporadically, so there were enough of them to provide Mathew with protection. Teintan called out to Gwen, who was praying and looking in Mizuho’s direction.
“Gwen, thank you for your efforts.”
“Yes! Captain Tientan!”
“It looks like we can handle this. So what about Shitenji-sama and the others?”
“Yes, …… Shurian-san has gone to cover the retreat of the sixth, seventh and eighth troops for …… us. Their mission is to escort His Excellency, Mathew. ……”
“Hmm ……. And?”
“Yes?”
“So what’s going on Shitenji-sama? There must be a reason why she’s not coming here, right?”
He was very cold ……. For a moment, Gwen felt that way about Tientan, but he was the commander of the entire escort unit. He would surely like to know as much as possible about the war situation.
“Yes, …… I don’t know what the plan is, but it seems that Domori-san is trying to determine the location of the enemy ability user. Shitenji-san seemed to be waiting for that report. Since the radio had been lost, they were making an effort to meet up anyway.”
“Determine the location of the enemy ability user ……, you say?”
Teintan raised his eyebrow.[TN: Like Rock does in movies, I don’t know how to express it]
(After all, yesterday’s talk of running around the area to look for enemy summoners was false,……, that little boy.)
“So …… do you think Shitenji-sama and Domori-sama will be able to meet up?”
“I don’t know ……, but Shitenji-sama was already preparing to attack. She seems to believe that he can meet up with her. So I also …… believe that Domori-san and Shitenji-san will be able to defeat this enemy bastard!”
Gwen clenched her fists and gripped her rifle.
“Those boys and girls are really something,……, ah! Domori-san!”
Gwen suddenly shouts with mixed surprise and joy.
When Tientan quickly looked in the direction that Gwen was looking, he saw a boy coming towards him at a high rate of speed beside a group of vehicles that were stopped along the road.
Hiroto is running so fast that it’s hard to believe he’s holding Mizuho up with both hands, and at times he jumps over obstacles.
“Their …… meet up was successful, huh”
As Tientan muttered to himself, Gwen waved her hands beside him and shouted loudly to Hiroto’s group.
“Domori-san!”
“Umm? There’s Gwen-san and Tientan-san!”
“Eh? Ah……uuu!”
Mizuho also noticed Gwen, but she was more embarrassed that someone else saw her in this princess hug, so she couldn’t help but turn red.
“Domori-san! Please blow away the enemy!”
Hiroto replies without slowing down his movement speed.
“Gwen-san! I understand!”
When Hiroto and the others tried to pass by, Gwen shouted even louder.
“Domori-san! You were able to find the location of the enemy!?”
Hiroto replied to Gwen’s question.
“Almost!”
Hiroto and the others ran straight past Gwen’s group.
Tientan widened his eyes at Hiroto’s reply and quickly hid in his blind spot.
“Where!?”
Hiroto didn’t answer Gwen’s question, and with Mizuho in his arms, his back quickly became a small one. Tientan glared sharply at his back, while Gwen looked away with supportive eyes.
However, …… Hiroto did not look back, but rather pointed the sword he was holding upwards and gestured to it. Tientan noticed the gesture and opened his eyes wide.
(Huh!? Right now, he was pointing up ……? Up …… in the sky? No way, that little bastard!)
He straddled a nearby military motorcycle, quickly started the engine, and ran after Hiroto’s group.
“Ah! Captain! Where to!”
Gwen was surprised by Tientan’s action, who was supposed to be in charge of all the troops, and raised her voice.
But instead of answering, he went after Hiroto.
As he drove his bike in the direction that Hiroto was headed, Tientan raised his voice alone.
“Niezbeck-sama! Niezbeck-sama!”
{What is it, …… Teintan. I thought I told you to avoid telepathy as much as possible while I am summoning……}
“Yes! I apologize! But the kid from the agency said he had your location and ran off!”
{Nonsense. …… My location cannot be determined. Don’t bother me with …… trivialities, you fool. …… I’m summoning Garm now. After I slaughter the little exorcist girl, I’ll send her your way. Things are already in the final stages.}
“Niesbeck-sama! I-I dare say, it’s different. We were tricked by that little …… boy named Domori!”
{…… Say it.}
“When asked where he claimed to have identified the location, the boy indicated that the …… enemy was above!”
{…… What? Above …… the sky, that can’t be.}
“Yes! That boy wasn’t looking for Niezbeck-sama! It’s possible that the boy was focused on Mizgard-sama from the start!”
Teintan was never informed of the whereabouts of Mizgard as well as Niezbeck, so he did not know where they were. However, he knew that Niezbeck and Mizgard were working together in some way.
However, he had seen Mizgard disappear or float in the air once before. So when Hiroto pointed to the sky, it rang a bell.
Niezbeck then forcefully cut off his telekinesis. Teintan conveyed what he had to say and followed Hiroto’s group trail.
Tientan was the oldest under Mathew’s direct command. As Mathew rose to the top of the ranks, so did Teintan.
His loyalty to Mathew was strong and he was treated as Mathew’s high-ranking staff officer because of his commanding ability.
However, …… one day, on his way home, Teintan was attacked by a group of strange demons and was taken prisoner.
When he came to, he was taken to a dimly lit room, lit only by candles. At that moment, Teintan was dragged helplessly in front of Rokiarum, even though he was raging and cursing his opponents.
Teintan had the mental strength to withstand any kind of torture.
At this point, he also considers the possibility of death.
“Mathew’s dog. ……”
However, as soon as an old man named Rokiarum appeared behind Niezbeck and stared at him, he was put into an abnormal state where he could not move his body at all, could not breathe, and only his consciousness remained clear.
“Uu……mguh, huuuuu!”
Rokiarum smiled at Tientan, mumbled something, approached him, and lightly placed his index finger on Tientan’s forehead.
“……!?”
Teintan could only see it with clarity in his consciousness.
Rokiarum’s finger sank without making a sound into Tainan’s forehead. He could not speak, but only watched as Rokiarum’s fingers stirred his brain.
Then, Teintan’s eyes spun around and his consciousness went dark.
The next day …… Teintan woke up in his bed at home.
He felt fine. It was an indescribable feeling of elation as if he had been freed from all his worries. Had he ever felt this good before? He also felt gratitude and love for the people who had made him feel this way.
Suddenly, Teintan heard a …… voice in his head.
{Our faithful servant, Tientan …….}
The words alone were enough to make Teintan swell with emotion and he prostrated himself on the spot.
That day, Teintan went to work as Mathew’s subordinate as if nothing had happened.
Hiroto and the others were running along the north-south road.
“Hiroto, are we there yet!? I want you to drop me off as soon as possible. …… perhaps?”
“We’re almost there! We’re going into the mountain forest now, so be careful. Mizuho-san, just get ready for the big move!”
“It’s already done! Also…… you should at least be a little nervous.”
“Eh? I’m nervous as well. I set up this plan and I feel responsible for it. ……”
“That’s enough ……. Hurry up.”
“All right!”
As he said, he jumped from the road into the forest on the left.
“I’ve been wondering, Hiroto, what’s with the sword? Did you have such a thing?”
“Oh, this is my beloved sword, Ihaku. I usually hide it.”
“Where do you keep it? No, I mean, you’re …….”
“Yeah, you could say I’m more of a swordsman.”
“Fumu …… Well, okay, you can explain it all to me later. There’s a lot of …… stuff in there about you.”
“Ahahaha …… Umm? Okay! We’re almost there!”
“OK! I’m going to get rid of all my frustrations here!”
Mizuho supplies the spiritual power she has kneaded to the spirits under her grasp.
(Spirits ……, please lend me your power.)[TN: Makoto’s family line is going strong I guess, she must be a descendant from Makoto and Furae cause Tsundere and stuff]
Hiroto was surprised to see Mizuho’s body starting to glow in his arms.
(This is …… awesome! I feel a power that is second to none, even to the spirit users in the demon world!)
“Here!”
Hiroto stopped in front of a small square that appeared in the forest. And when he lowered Mizuho to the ground, Mizuho released her hand from around his neck, a bit regretfully.
Mizuho’s expression tensed as the two of them ducked behind the trees instead of entering the space in front of them.
“Hiroto, the enemy is ……?”
Hiroto pointed his index finger upwards in response to Mizuho’s question.
“There …… right above us.”
—Part IV end—
2 more parts to go for this chapter and each part is of similar length as this one so be patient.
—Anon from discord has compiled volume 2 as epub so if you want to download it, either head to my discord(I have pinned the message in the channel) or download from the link below
https://mega.nz/folder/d941mYaL#EoLnq0kosjI3S7aBkQgdmA
Join me on —>discord<— to get update notifications.
