Book 8 Chapter 20
Episode 194
Before long, I run through the forest where dusk is falling.
Fruit trees exuding a fresh scent quickly rush past on both sides.
It was around that time that a warm object settled on my shoulder, rustling the leaves. A sigh of relief wells up.
“Pipi!”
“Pipi, Pipi, Pipi.”
You're safe.
Does that mean Valensidis and Cora are also okay?
Pipi rubbed its beak against my cheek and answered that question.
“Danger, danger, Valensidis danger.”
* * *
In the hero's epic, the Demon Slayer's might was often defined by just two words:
Overwhelming, Berserk.
It wasn't about special techniques or unique abilities. Nor was it said that he had a talent for wielding exotic weaponry.
He merely possessed overwhelming might that he unleashed in a berserk state.
The chains he wore like weapons on both hands were merely attached to maximize his power in moments of rampage.
Just that… I heard that, but that power was truly worthy of being called overwhelming.
“Annihilating target.”
The chains flew, tearing up the earth with immense weight.
It was a mighty blow, strong enough to crack the ground, but there was a person who met it head-on.
“Manager──!”
It was a powerful blow, strong enough to crack the earth, but the chains were immediately repelled with immense force, sweeping through the forest beyond.
“Heh, that's amazing.”
At that sight, a woman with bandages wrapped around both hands clenched her fists and let out a heartfelt whistle.
Her body wasn't the only thing full of scars; her martial arts uniform was as well.
Her name was Somali, who exuded the experience and spirit gained from decades of training.
“You're holding out against all three of us?”
500 years ago, she was a mercenary notorious for the alias 'Fighter Slayer'.
The man revealed in the fierce dust she was staring at was named Doran Slade.
Even bleeding all over, he was calmly regulating his breath and regaining his posture, a truly spectacular sight.
“What are you doing? Not taking those children to the pier.”
Doran Slade smiled at his subordinates as usual, but unlike before, his eyes weren't smiling.
The battle wasn't initially so disadvantageous.
But it became this way because of the boy soldiers rushing from all directions… knowing that these children, devoid of reason and emotion, were brainwashed soldiers.
- I will deal with them. You all subdue these children and take them to a safe place.
All the Special Operations Division mages were subduing the boy soldiers and tying them up with ropes.
It probably didn't need explaining, but in special missions, subduing was harder than killing.
The number of captured boy soldiers was roughly two hundred, and it seemed there were three hundred more.
“I really don't understand. Why use such strong power in such a way?”
“Indeed.”
Priest Slayer, Lucia, chanted sacred words to heal Somali's wounds and replied.
“The gods created the weak for the strong. To let them know the joy of ruling like the gods. But to be bound like that—”
“─I apologize, but that interpretation is out of order.”
Doran Slade replied, taking the Seojin-ryu stance once more.
“The gods created the strong for the weak.”
The Slade family, like the Chaihak school, are Gin-type mages who fight by enhancing their physical bodies.
However, unlike Chaihak, which specializes in striking techniques, the Slade family's forte is grappling.
Seojin-ryu is the power to gently circulate magic throughout the body, forcibly inducing centrifugal force in all movements, and wielding the Eight Trigrams.
“Don't speak about theology when you know nothing!”
Lucia swung a hammer made of a wooden coffin and charged.
Lightly rotate the ankle, bend the knee. Then, inhale air and rotate the wrist.
The series of movements absorbed the blow aimed at Doran's right arm, creating a massive current that was then expelled from his left hand.
“───!”
The moment Doran brought his left hand to Lucia's solar plexus, the flow of power caused chaos in the laws of physics.
As Lucia was sent flying far away and rolled on the ground, Somali leaped high into the sky and then rapidly descended.
Ground collapse, shockwave emission.
In that chaotic moment, two pairs of limbs clashed and intertwined, exchanging dozens of blows.
Close-quarters combat unleashed by masters of martial arts.
“You're truly amazing!”
To an ordinary person's ear, only the crisp sound of magic crackling like electricity could be heard.
“How about becoming a Mage Slayer? I'll recommend you!”
To an ordinary person's eyes, only two chaotic whirlwinds could be seen.
The ground was unevenly carved by the whirlwinds, and the abundant leaves and fruits in the forest flew like autumn leaves.
“Seojin-ryu Secret Technique.”
Doran took a deep breath in a moment less than an instant.
“Unkyung.” (蘊傾 - potentially 'Stored Tilt' or 'Accumulated Focus')
And then, he concentrated all the blows he had received into one point, forcibly twisting and contorting the flow of ki into his fingertips.
A pattern resembling a snow crystal radiating brightly around Doran's feet spread out in an instant.
“Bal.” (發 - 'Release' or 'Launch')
Doran striking that power into Somali's solar plexus and Somali's foot striking Doran's jaw were almost simultaneous.
Due to the backflow of power, the mana heart concentrated in Somali's chest was forcibly warped and distorted, then exploded from within in the next moment.
At the same time, Doran, struck by a powerful blow, flew backward with a fractured jaw. His neck seemed to have fractured as well.
“Cough….”
An intense pain that made his vision turn bright yellow.
He rolled like a ball several times on the ground, then violently slammed into a tangerine tree, spewing blood.
A shadow rushed towards the fallen Doran… At the moment he sensed his end, a dozen wind blades flew out and knocked that shadow away.
‘That guy is….’
Though his hair color had changed, he couldn't possibly fail to recognize those distinct features and magic.
Because he was a person of interest.
Appearing with Cora's support, equally battered as Doran, was none other than Valensidis.
“As expected, he regenerates immediately…”
Earlier, during the Demon Slayer's sudden ambush, he had almost been crushed by falling debris while saving Cora, but with Pipi's help, he barely escaped the brink of death.
“How truly enviable. While some of us have to chant healing spells one by one.”
Wary of Milea, who instantly regenerated her leg severed by a wind blade, Valensidis cast a healing rune toward Doran.
Serious injuries didn't heal instantly, but he could feel his broken jawbone mend enough to speak.
Just as the executives of the Special Operations Division belatedly recognized Valensidis and were about to show hostility.
“I am indebted to a stranger.”
Doran dragged his feet and positioned himself next to Valensidis, back-to-back.
“I'd like to have a serious conversation over a cup of coffee later.”
Was Doran blind? Or had his memory been damaged?
No, the Special Operations Division mages couldn't imagine their manager saying something like that without any meaning.
Did he mean to focus on the enemies ahead for now? But wasn't there a high possibility that Valensidis was allied with them?
‘I know that Valensidis made a significant contribution in the previous incident, as it was conveyed to me confidentially.’
He would delve deeply into the matters of Runen and Tirintid later, but now was not the time.
“I prefer black tea over coffee.”
“I prefer coffee.”
The gazes of the two men, who were so dark-hearted that they would be second to none, met in the air for a moment, then both immediately assumed combat stances.
If they could focus only on defense, even such a monster would be manageable in a one-on-two fight.
The Priest Slayer was holding the Fighter Slayer, who was kneeling and bleeding from all seven orifices due to the recoil of his heart bursting, and weeping sorrowfully.
“Ah, how could this happen… How could you allow such a tragedy, how…”
Huh?
I had only blinked for a moment.
But, a heavily armored warrior, who hadn't been visible until now, had his hand on Lucia's head.
“Big brother…”
“Honestly, why do you pray? The gods have never granted anyone's prayers.”
A sensation as if his spine had frozen.
Inexplicable terror clutched the hearts of the two mages.
“To make our Lucia cry. I suppose I'll have to punish you myself before I go dragon hunting.”
After those words, the world was enveloped in an ominous silence.
*Crack*, with the sound of electricity crackling, the Dragon Slayer's form vanished from sight.
And the absolute pressure felt from behind… He couldn't even turn around, let alone have time for his heart to race wildly.
‘I'm going to die.’
With that instantaneous footwork displayed in his heavily armored state, he knew it instinctively.
The opponent before him was on a completely different level. Different from the other Slayers, and different from themselves.
‘This is the end…’
In his rapidly concentrated nerves, he felt the sensation of a massive, anomalous spear shattering his ribs and crushing his internal organs.
Was this sudden, eerie emptiness that engulfed him… death?
Just as the world in Doran's eyes turned monochrome and everything seemed to end.
*Clink*.
With that clear sound, the echo of his childhood rippled in his ears.
- Doran, do you know about Rin?
The story his sister, who died at the age of twenty from a frail body, told an eight-year-old Doran for the last time.
- She was a great mage who carried an old conical hat and a staff.
- They say wherever people needed her, she would appear with the clinking sound of her staff.
- So, at some point, that staff sound came to be regarded as the sound of hope.
Was this the wave of memories one feels just before death?
No, he wasn't dead.
There was no trace of the ferocious death that had just engulfed him.
- A mage who spread hope in a world full of despair, isn't that cool?
But it couldn't have been a mere illusion.
If that sound hadn't been heard.
More precisely, if he hadn't appeared with that sound, it would have been the reality that actually struck. The killing intent was that intense.
*WHOOSH!*
Then, his gaze was drawn as if captivated by the shadow that appeared with a fiercely rising pillar of fire. He couldn't tear his eyes away.
An old conical hat and a staff…
For a moment, a sense of elation rose, as if the image he had painted from the hero stories his sister used to read to him in childhood had been embodied in reality.
“Your opponent is me, Dragon Slayer.”
“It’s me, it’s me, it’s me.”
Doran, freed from the hallucination, opened his eyes wide.
He seemed like a boy he was seeing for the first time, yet he looked familiar. He immediately recognized who this red-haired boy was.
A clearly featured face, and the blood-red eyes characteristic of the Ludwig family.
‘Yes, Rin died. A long time ago.’
Nevertheless, even so.
He instantly understood what kind of thrill those who had been helped by Rin 300 years ago must have felt.
He even seemed to hear his sister's voice, placing a fedora on his head and telling him to become a mage like Rin.
“I'll finish this.”