Chapter 61
The air and particles that had been drifting freely through the world abruptly stopped, as if frozen in midair. It was as though time itself had stopped.
Then, in the next instant, they began to shatter like cracked glass—and came rushing straight toward us.
An attack by space itself, impossible to evade.
There was no way human movements could dodge the space rushing toward us. Unfortunately.
Tsssss!
Realizing what was happening, Prea hurriedly spread her hands, and visible, brilliant divine power formed a circular barrier around us.
If we couldn’t dodge it, all we could do was try to block it.
KRAAAANG!!
Fortunately, the distortion of space struck the barrier and could advance no farther.
A Saint’s barrier, imbued with the finest divine power, was superior to the combined barriers of hundreds of ordinary priests.
But the barrier seemed to have taken damage, too. It dissolved into light and vanished as tiny particles.
“It blocked me?”
The witch voiced her impression with an expressionless face.
Even so, there was a slight but unmistakable tremor in her voice.
She probably hadn’t imagined it would be blocked.
“I have no intention of wasting my strength here, so I’ll be taking my leave.”
“What!?”
I turned toward the presence I’d sensed beside me. Eugene Han, who’d been there a moment ago, had vanished without a trace.
Damn it.
Just like last time, he’d disappeared so completely it was almost unbelievable.
But I had no time to worry about that now.
Swoosh……
This time, the witch raised one arm and aimed it at us.
Unlike a moment ago, when she’d only tilted her head, she seemed ready to take this a little more seriously.
But before that.
Ping!
“Hm?”
Riella’s fire arrow shot toward the back of the witch’s head.
A strike launched from between the snow-covered trees.
Riella had hidden behind a tree beforehand, moving into position to launch a surprise attack.
CLANG!
But as soon as the arrow came within striking distance of the witch, it froze and fell to the ground.
It seemed she’d prepared some means of protecting herself.
Quite unlike the way she’d looked down on us as if we were ants.
‘Is it a technique that freezes the space around her?’
If so, that would be a serious problem for me, since I fought at close range.
The moment I approached, I could freeze solid before I even knew what had happened.
Tsssss!
As if she wouldn’t even give us time to think, her next attack began to form.
A gigantic magic circle resembling an ice crystal appeared in the sky, and countless shards of ice began to materialize within it.
Shkchchchchch!
They immediately poured down over our heads.
There wasn’t a single gap, as if it were raining.
Each ice crystal had the penetrating power of a bullet.
It was already too late to dodge.
But if this was an attack using simple physical force, rather than a concept like space……
‘I can block it.’
Whoosh—!
After a brief thought, I immediately swung my sword toward the empty air.
「Spatial Severance: 解」
A thin boundary appeared along the path of my sword, and the ice crystals were drawn into it, condensing before disappearing in an instant.
The witch saw it and began to visibly falter.
It wasn’t because her attack had been stopped.
She was staring at the technique I’d just used with a dumbfounded expression.
“……Kardin?”
Kardin.
A familiar name had slipped from the witch’s lips.
After thinking it over, I remembered hearing that name when I’d looked into the Black Knight in the Holy Kingdom last time.
I’d needed to study how to stop him after encountering the Black Knight that day.
“Kardin? How do you know that name……?”
“Have you finally taken human form?”
Cutting off Prea’s excited question with a single remark, the witch turned to me.
I had no idea what was going on.
How could the murderous intent with which she’d been attacking me just moments ago have faded so quickly?
“Tell me.”
The frozen space began to flow again.
She seemed to think I was that Black Knight.
Judging by her behavior, the witch and the Black Knight seemed to be fairly close, too.
Was this an opportunity?
If I answered well, maybe I could stop this fight.
I calmly turned it over in my head.
‘Should I start with a casual greeting? No, the Black Knight I met wasn’t the friendly type…… Then what am I supposed to do?’
I had to answer carefully.
I couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake.
I had to keep her mistaking me for the Black Knight.
That was the only way to stop this fight.
The tension pressed heavily on my mind.
One word from me could determine the fate of our Hero’s party…… and perhaps even Yubel’s.
But then.
“I miss the Demon King—!?”
What the hell! What was I saying……!
Maybe it was because the blessing keeping my mind intact had just weakened.
I’d blurted out the curse that had come to mind, word for word.
I’d made a mistake.
I’d said the one thing the Black Knight would be least likely to say. Even if a fight broke out right now……
“Oh, it is you, Kardin. Sorry, I didn’t recognize you.”
……Huh?
Unexpectedly, the witch seemed to completely let go of her suspicions after hearing what I’d just said.
Was that the right answer?
Now that she was completely convinced I was the Black Knight, the witch withdrew the magic power spreading through the area.
“Do you have new friends with you?”
“……Yeah. Don’t hurt them.”
As I chatted peacefully with her, Riella gradually emerged from her hiding place, and even Prea, who’d been wary of the witch for some time, calmed her divine power.
But her expression still showed that she had no idea what was going on.
“I won’t. At least you and I can talk to each other.”
So the Black Knight and the witch were close friends, then.
As if she’d read my mind, the witch gestured for us to follow her. It seemed she meant to invite us farther up the snowy mountain.
As we walked, the witch and I exchanged a few brief remarks.
We talked about how, with me gone, she had no one to talk to about the Demon King, how we should go home and resume being fans of the Demon King, and how she had something to show us farther inside, among other things.
Along the way, my companions gave me looks that asked, ‘What is going on?’ I answered with an expression that said I didn’t know, either.
Because I really didn’t.
I had no idea why she’d mistaken me for the Black Knight. The only thing I could guess was that it had something to do with this curse I’d received from the demon.
Since the Demon King’s thoughts sometimes surfaced through the voice of the curse, the Demon King and the demon might be connected.
Anyway, we climbed the snowy mountain with our exhausted bodies, and before long, a massive ice palace appeared before us.
The ice doors opened with a majestic rumble.
As we passed through and stepped into the palace, a growing sense of tension began to overcome me.
My companions seemed to feel the same way. I could hear them swallowing nervously beside me.
Feeling the same way, I kept walking.
One step, two steps, three steps.
The farther inside we went, the more a strange chill enveloped my body.
Shivering as I ventured deeper, I eventually arrived in front of a small ice door.
The witch, who’d been leading the way, stopped there and continued speaking.
She said there was something she absolutely wanted to show me, and that her dream had finally come true.
Then the door opened.
At the same time, a foul stench strong enough to make me grimace filled the air. It was the smell of blood. The deeper we went, the worse it became.
I wondered why, but decided not to dwell on it.
The important thing was finding Yubel. I could feel that I was very close to her now.
Thud.
I saw statues of Yubel scattered around the place.
They were incredibly lifelike statues.
So the witch really did know Yubel.
I didn’t know what their relationship was, but she didn’t seem to hate Yubel. That was a small relief.
Thud, thud.
We were almost at the end of the corridor now.
We reached the huge cage we’d been able to see in the distance. Up close, it was a little smaller than I’d expected. There was something inside it, but it was too dark to make out from outside.
The cage door slowly opened.
At last, we could see inside.
We took a step forward.
Into the cage.
The stench was strong. Was this where the source of that bloody smell was? For some reason, cold sweat ran down my back.
We stepped inside, into the darkness, and finally saw what was in the cage.
“……”
There,
……was a corpse.
A corpse in such a state that it was impossible to believe it was alive.
The legs that should have held its body upright were missing. As a result, it lay sprawled on the cold ice floor. Its small, delicate left arm, somehow familiar, had also been cleanly severed and tossed beside the corpse like garbage. On top of that, its bare skin must have been pressed against the ice, because patches of it had torn away, exposing bright red muscle.
It was hard to look at.
Even so, I looked closer. Just a little closer.
The corpse had some distinctive features.
It had a tail like a demon’s. It had two horns jutting straight up. And it had a familiar face.
It looked just like the statues lined up beside it.
Yes. It looked like Yubel……
That kind of……
“……Ah.”
That kind of face.
***
“……She’s gone.”
That crazy bitch was gone.
I cheered inwardly.
It was a kind of relief, knowing nothing would happen for the time being—not until Sukja came back.
Then I considered using my mana to heal my body, but quickly changed my mind.
It was important to save what little mana I had left, and I didn’t know when Sukja might return.
[That’s a good choice. If we wait like this until the Hero arrives, your mana will soon replenish. Until then, rest easy.]
Who knows.
Would the Hero really make it here in time?
I wanted to look forward to a hopeful future, too. But it wasn’t that easy. I couldn’t simply let myself get my hopes up.
Because I was afraid.
Afraid of getting hurt.
I knew that the more I expected, the more hope I had, the more it would hurt when that hope was crushed. It was one of the few things I’d learned in life.
“……”
And I knew the reverse was true, too.
The less you expected, the less hope you had, the more overwhelming the feeling was when what you’d wished for actually came true…… I knew how deeply that feeling could shake a person’s heart.
It was unlikely to happen right now, but if…… if, by some tiny chance, it did happen, then I, too……
“Haa……”
I want to live.
To conserve my strength as much as possible, I cut off some of my hair and lay down on the ice floor.
A chill seeped through my back, but it wasn’t enough to freeze me. I was getting a little sleepy.
~
How many minutes passed like that?
Once again, I heard someone outside the door.
‘Back already? Well, my happy time is over.’
I let out a deep sigh and tried to check who’d come by, glancing over from where I lay.
But I couldn’t.
The warm hand against my back felt so good that I held my breath for a long while.
And so, a fleeting moment passed.
I gently opened my bleary eyes and looked at the owner of that hand.
It was the Hero.
The Hero who’d come to save me.
When I realized that, a smile unconsciously spread across my face.
“You came……”
As soon as I spoke, the Hero began shouting something, looking desperate.
But I couldn’t hear him.
I hadn’t healed my injuries yet.
And with him staring right at me, healing myself in front of him could lead to some strange misunderstanding.
For example, he might wonder how I’d healed without divine power.
It was bound to be very difficult to explain, so I spoke first.
“Sorry…… I can’t hear right now. It’ll definitely get better…… So, don’t worry, okay?”
Huh. The Hero suddenly looked as though he was about to cry.
I’d said that to reassure him, so why was he reacting like that?
Now that I looked, Riella and Prea were behind him, too.
Riella wore an unusually grim expression, while Prea…… covered her mouth and gagged as if she’d seen something truly horrifying.
It also looked like she was shouting something…… Huh?
Three pairs of angel wings began sprouting from Prea’s back.
Then a halo of light revolved around her, radiating brilliance.
That was definitely 「Angelification」, which had appeared in the game, too.
One of the Saint’s ultimate secret arts.
It was also the most powerful technique available to the Saint character, usable only once.
A skill boasting that much overwhelming power.
I didn’t know why she was using it now.
Then the ‘Sanctuary’ created by the Saint began to unfold before my eyes.
“……Ugh.”
I have no idea what’s going on anymore.