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Chapter 18
The large building within the center of Rimarze also acted as an evacuation center for the citizens. Yet at this very moment, a large demon was hammering on its doors. Standing behind him were several other demons, waiting for the doors to open so that they could slaughter the people on the inside. The giant demon was one swing away from breaking through it, but then the door suddenly opened from the inside. The giant demon lost his balance and fell over, but managed to prop itself up again. Yet what greeted it from the open door wasn’t a group of terrified citizens, but a single girl.
“Welcome…and goodbye!”
The human warrior swung down her giant sword, directly at the demon. Since the giant was still half on its knee, evading it was impossible. Instead, he tried to protect himself with his giant arms. Although he didn’t have any special abilities, his vitality was something he was proud of, so he was confident he could block the incoming attack. However, that giant sword didn’t actually hammer into his arms and instead slammed into the ground beneath it. Despite it being a sword, rather than using the term “slice,” it was more accurate to use “crush” in this example. Split in two, the demon’s two sides fell over and stopped moving.
The female warrior known as Layla, Seran’s foster mother, was also the teacher of her son and Kyle. With their ally having turned into leaps of meat, the demons couldn’t react at all. And as if that had been the aim all along, giant shadows attacked them from all sides. They were Golems, magic items with no soul built to fight whatever their target was.
“Leave the frontlines to the golems! As for the rest, you support the center!” said Gou while giving orders as the Golems charged at the demons.
The demons were already in shambles, so this sudden assault caught them completely off-guard. Amongst the attack was also the translucent appearance of an elf woman. She was actually known as the Queen of Wind and a high-ranking spirit, Ninril, which was summoned by another elf—Urza, using the World Tree staff.
“Ninril, create a wall of wind!”
To ensure the demons couldn’t escape, Urza had the spirit create a wall to surround them. Of course, they attempted to fight back and break free, but they were held down by Layla—and Lieze. Layla cut down one demon, and another got intercepted by Lieze, sending him flying with her iron fist.
“Careful, Layla-san!”
“Thanks a bunch, Lieze-chan…Didn’t expect we’d be fighting together like this, to be honest. Nor that you’d be so reliable,” said Layla with a dry smile.
To her, Lieze was, just like Seran and Kyle, still a child, so it didn’t feel right seeing them like this. At the same time, another demon leaped at them but was struck down by small sharp items flying at them. They were small daggers, making it hard to evade, but also didn’t inflict much damage, especially against a demon. However, the tips of those blades emitted a purple light, and when they hammered into the demon, they groaned and staggered.
“Hm, seems to work perfectly. Minagi’s grown so much, producing poison that even works on demons,” said the person who fired off the knives, also known as Minagi’s foster father and teacher—Souga.
However, the poison on his blades was actually made by Minagi herself.
“Oh yeah, I made sure to blow up the secret underground route, so the guys coming after you most likely got buried alive. Better not count on reinforcements, okay?” said Souga with a sadistic tone.
“So far, everything’s moving exactly as Kyle planned…”
Having defeated several demons, right as the incoming wave of demons lessened, Lieze sighed in relief as she looked up at the wall of wind. This whole plan came from Kyle, who wanted to use the various leaders of the world as bait and the citizens as a trap to lure in the demons. When he first told them about this, everyone involved immediately protested.
“With the demons at a disadvantage, there’s a good chance that they might try to attack Rimarze. If so, we should create a situation that benefits us. It’s logical and effective.”
Just as Souga suggested now, Lieze and the others had to eventually accept the possibility of a massive return if Kyle’s plan worked out.
“Draw them in and beat them down… Sounds good to me, but he sure has guts calling his own master here to work for him,” Layla remembered Kyle’s face and snorted.
“Just shows how much he relies on you. And I’m happy to see you’re doing well,” said Lieze in joy, since they haven’t seen each other in a while.
Layla was known to be a swordsman standing at the apex of humanfolk, but because of her way of fighting, she wasn’t fit to work in a group or army. After the war began, there had been local encounters with demons, which is where Layla and Souga came in and cleaned up.
“As long as nothing unexpected happens, we should be fine here.”
“Unexpected…What I’m really worried about is them.”
Compared to Lieze’s cheerful voice, Layla showed a reluctant expression, gazing over at the command center of Rimarze. She imagined the fight that would be going down there.
“Oh…Well, I don’t blame you for worrying, but he’s grown a lot stronger.”
“I know that. But can you blame me for being worried?” answered Layla.
And who could? She was a mother and teacher at the same time.
Targ looked at the map in his hands and walked around inside the command center. Up to this point, everything had worked out perfectly, since no soldiers were around. When he ran into the entrance hall, he stopped for a moment to greet the person standing there.
“Oh dear, I was a bit worried since I didn’t see you around, but this is where you’ve been waiting? Well, I expected to run into you here…Seran-san.”
“Yeah. I’m glad you’re doing fine. Been a while since we last saw each other, after all…Targ.”
Targ pretended like he actually cared about Seran’s safety, who greeted Targ like he was an old friend. Once they were done with the greetings, they both laughed.
“I am a bit surprised, though. You knew that I was heading to the demon territory with the army, so when did you realize it was a trap?”
“I didn’t, really. I just acted in anticipation that it might be a trap. How many times do you think you’ve foiled our plans now? We just did the same now,” Targ responded as he threw away the map.
He might have seen this as familiar since he pulled the same trick to lure them into the Demon Lord’s castle.
“Still, all this is not very much like you, is it? This is supposed to be the very last defensive line for humanfolk, yet you are usually the person to charge ahead. I find it quite unfitting.”
Targ’s commendation forced a wry smile out of Seran. He knew better than anybody that he wasn’t really a bodyguard by any means.
“Guess so. Though this lets me battle it out with you here, so I prioritized it.”
“Oh gosh, you’re making me blush.”
“Well, we go way back, don’t we?” Seran looked at his left arm.
A faint scar still remained on there.
“However, that is going to end today. Of course it makes you want to talk some more, right?”
“I don’t really have anything to talk about, though. I would just like to get past you and deal with those leaders behind you.”
“What a boring guy you are… But can you really just ignore me? Can you assassinate those guys while ignoring me?”
“Someone’s confident today, it seems. I would even call it arrogance. Yet, you are strong enough that you can afford to act this way. Well, that is exactly why we went for a surprise attack like this.”
“And you’re being awfully benevolent today. Well, it worked just fine to drag you out. Although, did you really not know that it was a trap?”
“No, it’s rather simple… We just had to make sure that it didn’t matter if it was a trap.”
“And you call others arrogant? Though, I admit. You’re stronger than me. And I’m not an idiot who doesn’t realize this.”
“…You’re starting to creep me out now.”
“You’re a busy fellow today, huh? That said, just because you’re stronger doesn’t mean you’ll automatically win, nor that you will survive.”
“Yes, that is absolutely true. Well, I think we’ve dragged this out long enough, so let’s begin, shall we?”
Targ narrowed his eyes even further, as Seran readied his dark blade. The following fight, or you may call it a battle to the death, was polarizing. Seran released a wave of killing intent that could knock out the average person, but Targ maintained his casual smile. Seran slowly moved in closer to Targ, yet showed no signs of actually trying to attack Targ, just waiting for his response. Yet, Targ didn’t even move an inch. What he excelled at was countering the attacks of his opponents. And since he was dealing with Seran, who fought some of the strongest beings in this world, he had to be careful. Of course, Seran was aware of this thought process, so they just glared at each other. In the end, they just mentally exhausted each other.
“What’s wrong? Time is on our side, remember?”
After a brief moment passed, Seran started provoking Targ. He could take his time since he wasn’t the one attacking right now. Targ must have realized how true that was and moved—right as Seran did, too. Since he had approached Targ right up to his face, he was perfectly in range for a strike. Any other opponent would have gotten sliced in two, but Targ disappeared right as the nose would have touched him. His ability to move instantly allowed him to appear behind Seran, as he chopped down his hand to strike right at Seran’s heart from behind him.
This was usually how Targ finished off most of his opponents. But that is also why he was worried—wondering if it could really be this easy. When they fought the last time, Seran was desperate enough to cut off his own arm to emerge victorious. Targ felt like something was off—and he was right. Seran simply moved the smallest bit to avoid a fatal wound, even though he shouldn’t have known that it was coming. Even though Targ’s hand rammed right into his abdomen, he showed no concern for that, almost as if he didn’t care as long as it wasn’t fatal, and then forced his body around to attack Targ once more.
That said, since Targ anticipated a sketchy move from Seran, he stepped back so that only his shoulder to his chest suffered a cut, barely avoiding a fatal injury himself. He then took a bigger distance, and since Seran couldn’t follow up with an attack because he lost his balance, they just glared at each other again. The estimate was that they both suffered roughly the same level of injuries, but it was Targ who took more damage overall.
“How…did you know?” Targ pressed his hand on his wound, as sweat appeared on his face. “It wouldn’t have been possible if you didn’t know where I would attack from, and with how out of position you were… Yet you knew exactly from where I would attack,” Targ blabbered on, flustered because he couldn’t accept this, as Seran put one hand on his wound while opening his mouth.
“You are strong. But if you are too strong, you have a fatal weakness, too.”
“A weakness…because I’m too strong?”
“Yeah. I’m sure you’ve killed every other opponent you’ve encountered so far, using the same technique against each person once. When I first saw you use it, I didn’t know how to handle it either, but this isn’t our first rodeo, right?”
Seran’s statement made Targ gasp.
“Your teleportation is some scary shit, but there are still limitations. At the very least, during battle, you can only teleport to where you can see, and your position remains the same.”
“…”
“I can also tell where you’re going to strike based on the position you take before you disappear, so if I forget about defense and just counterattack, I can at least get you back. And so, I bet on the likeliness of where you’re going to attack,” Seran bluntly explained, making it sound rather simple, but to pull this off, one needed an immense sense of battle and the guts to actually go through with it.
In all honesty, Targ almost wanted to appreciate the dedication that Seran showed.
“How terrifying…However, don’t think that was enough to defeat me,” Targ spoke like the real battle had only just begun, as Seran’s expression changed.
“Hey, tell me. Why are you working for that black-winged demon?”
“…What?”
Seran’s question, like he had lost all will to fight, threw off Targ.
“I’ve been curious about that for a while now, so I was wondering if you could fill me in. You were serving under Luiza’s dad, right? Yet, you instead followed the black-winged one and even abducted her. Why?”
“Oh dear, so you knew about that? Well, I didn’t have any particular reason. I served under Lord Adonis simply because I saw a reason to do so. As a Demon Lord, he wasn’t exactly…the best,” Targ flashed a wry smile.
Rather than fame or honor, he apparently was more interested in if it was a job worth doing.
“In that regard, Luiza-sama is practically perfect…and there was no point in me serving her. She would have had no need for me.”
“I see…So you preferred a boss who actually let you get your hands dirty. A weird guy you are…Then the black-winged one is a bit of a problem child?”
“No comment.”
“And you never had any intention of becoming the Demon Lord yourself? You were strong enough, right?”
“You ask quite the weird questions today. Some people are not meant for such things…”
Targ wondered why Seran would ask him these things, but he then thought of something.
“Are you trying to buy time right now?”
“Cat’s out of the bag, huh? You made it sound like you won, but it was still a draw… No, actually, I lost,” Seran accepted his defeat. “However, if I think about humanfolk as a whole…then my win condition is clear. I just have to survive until the end. No matter what I have to do…Isn’t that right?”
“That might be correct, yes…”
“I accept my individual defeat…and so, I’m going to use whatever I can do to kill you.”
Not to win, but to kill. And for that, he wouldn’t choose his methods.
“And that’s why you’re trying to buy time? To wait until your allies arrive?”
“Yep, absolutely.”
Targ seemed disappointed as he sighed. Showing an expression Seran had never seen on him before.
“Don’t underestimate a demon, you pesky human.”
His expression showed clear hatred and disgust.
“Sure, I didn’t expect this kind of response. However, don’t think that your allies will come here.”
“…”
Seran didn’t deny that. He knew that Targ started this attack because he was confident. Not even the Golems, his foster mother Layla, or Souga would be enough to push them back.
“Not only that, I have no intention of wasting my time discussing this with you here. You said that time sided with you, but we were the ones wanting to drag things out,” Targ’s expression returned to normal as he pulled his hand from the wound on his shoulder.
Even though it should have been impossible, the blood loss had already stopped. Amongst the demons, some had the ability that their wounds would heal almost instantly. Although Targ wasn’t part of that group, his recovery was still faster than the average. And definitely much quicker than that of a human, since Seran still had the same issues as before.
“Then let’s restart, shall we? This time, I will kill you for good. It seems that you buying time wasn’t quite enough, was it?” Targ set one foot ahead.
“You just said not to underestimate you demons, huh? Did it seem like I was?” Seran said with a confused tone. “If the opponent is using all of his strengths and abilities, you have to answer in fashion…And although Kyle forced me to play along in this, he was probably right.”
“What…What are you saying?”
Targ couldn’t follow Seran’s words, but he instinctively understood that Seran wasn’t just playing tough, which gave birth to a severe case of worry.
“What do you think that is?” Seran pointed at the ceiling with a confident smirk.
Even though he knew that looking away would be dangerous, Targ couldn’t stop himself from gazing up—and there, he saw a single bee. Immediately after, Targ’s tension rose ten-fold. More accurately, he felt fear for the first time like this.
“It…It can’t be…”
“Oh, I’m not underestimating you guys. In fact, I know just how strong of a punch you all pack. It’s almost reassuring.”
At that moment, a loud roar filled the air and made it seem like all of Rimarze was shaking.
CClaw Translations 