Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Sage's Cabin
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Buffalord strode toward the well where Saf was, his steps heavy and purposeful.
When they had first met in the forest, she hadn't realized just how massive he was—standing next to a huge tree or compared to Heltra, he hadn't seemed that big. But now, he was enormous. If he stood on his tiptoes, he could probably peer right over the cabin's roof.
"I figured you'd be here!"
Buffalord held his chain sickle at the ready, scanning the surroundings warily as he asked,
"Anyone else with you?"
Saf tried her best to act unfazed as she replied.
"Ruby's here. She could take you out with one hit."
Buffalord let the chain sickle drop. The iron links clattered to the ground with a sharp sound, like a sword being drawn from its sheath.
"Then tell her to come out. I'll finish what we started yesterday."
Saf clenched her fists tight and kept backing away.
Before long, the wall pressed against her back.
"Why aren't you calling her? Did Dukuboa's poison kill her?"
Buffalord retracted the chain sickle. Then he drew a pitch-black blade from his back.
The sword was nearly as tall as Saf herself. Even accounting for his massive build, it was a huge weapon. He raised it high, and it looked like a beam rising to support the roof.
Saf dodged to the side. She knew it was pointless, but she threw herself sideways anyway.
Boom!
Buffalord's sword crashed into the wall.
He hadn't been aiming for Saf from the start—it was the wall behind her that he struck. Even though it was made of stone, the blade shattered it, leaving a massive hole.
Through the breached wall was the bedroom where Ruby lay.
Ruby didn't even open her eyes at the tremendous noise, and fragments of broken stone pelted her face, but she didn't stir.
Buffalord spotted Ruby, then bared his teeth at Saf in a grin. Just like with Ramathus or the Tyrant, they weren't the teeth of a herbivore but the fangs of a carnivore.
"There you are!"
Buffalord stepped through the hole into the room.
Saf lunged forward almost on instinct, grabbing Buffalord around the waist.
"No! Don't touch Ruby!"
Saf clung with all her strength, but it felt like hanging onto a boulder.
Buffalord swatted her away like she was a fly. She flew back four or five steps from the back of his hand.
"I'm not killing you yet, so relax. I still need to look into that light magic of yours...
Buffalord pointed a finger at Saf and continued.
"...and those horns of yours are worth investigating too."
Buffalord snorted heavily and headed back into the hole.
"But this redhead's a different story. Thinking about him teaming up with the Sentinel already gives me a headache."
"Stop! Or else...
Saf jumped to her feet and shouted at Buffalord.
Her head had split open, blood trickling down her forehead. Unfortunately, it got into one eye, so she could barely keep it open.
Buffalord let out a strange, snickering laugh.
"Or else what?"
"I-I won't let you get away with it."
Buffalord stared at her for a long moment, then tried to ignore her and enter. But he bumped his nose into an invisible wall and staggered back.
"What the hell?"
Buffalord tapped at the transparent barrier blocking the wall.
"A barrier?"
"Y-Yeah. I'm a light mage who wards off darkness and evil, so I can make one of these no problem."
Saf squeezed out every ounce of courage to yell.
*It won't work. A demon who broke through the Sage's protective spell will slice through my flimsy magic like nothing.*
Buffalord turned to Saf, his voice strained with restraint.
"I'm in a hurry, so cut the crap."
Saf was terrified, on the verge of deathly fear.
"I'm doing it!"
That's exactly why she doubled down.
*Ruby's saved me so many times. Now it's my turn to save her.*
Buffalord punched the protective wall a few times. But it didn't break. So he hefted his massive sword and advanced on Saf.
"The holy light will drive you away!"
To overcome her fear, Saf deliberately raised her voice and poured forth a light of salvation and purification from her hands, the kind that could repel demons.
This light was meant to heal demonic poison or exorcise evil spirits from human bodies. In theory, even a renowned demon like Buffalord shouldn't be able to approach it closely. But Buffalord merely turned his face away slightly, as if momentarily dazzled by a sudden bright light.
"What're you playing at?"
Buffalord swung his sword. It was a casual swat, like shooing off a flying insect, but the blade cutting through the air sounded as heavy as a grandmaster's full-powered strike.
Saf spun around and bolted toward the bushes. She was trying to lure him as far from Ruby as possible to buy time. But she hadn't run twenty steps before Buffalord shoved her back, sending her tumbling forward.
He hadn't pushed that hard, but she'd lost her balance on her own and rolled head over heels.
Buffalord planted a foot on her fallen stomach.
"Hmm, almost killed you by accident. But if you don't drop that wall, I'll kill you right now."
Buffalord added a bit of weight to the foot pressing down.
Saf pushed desperately at his foot with both hands, trying to lighten the pressure even a little, but it didn't budge.
In that position, Buffalord asked,
"Now that I think about it, what the hell are you?"
"I-I'm with the Rom Priesthood..."
Before Saf could finish, Buffalord cut in.
"White Horn?"
Buffalord eased the weight on his foot just enough for her to breathe.
Saf caught her breath, then asked in a deliberately slow tone.
"You know... White Horn?"
"I know how terrifying a demon from hell that is."
Saf saw this as a precious chance to reveal her identity, but at the same time, she pondered using the fact to escape.
*Should I claim I'm White Horn and threaten him? Would a lie like that work on a demon like this?*
All Saf could do right now was keep Buffalord away from Ruby and stall for time until Merald returned. But before she could come up with a lie, Buffalord reached his own conclusion.
"So you're not White Horn. No way it'd take human form. Then why do you have horns? Some demon-human hybrid?"
Buffalord pressed the sword tip to Saf's forehead.
*Let's improvise. At least earlier, he couldn't break through the barrier I made with protective light.*
Saf channeled protective light into her hands against his sole.
The light shoved Buffalord away. Suddenly pushed by an invisible force on one foot, he stumbled slightly.
Seizing the moment, Saf wriggled free from under his foot and crawled away on her belly. She leaned against a tree and clasped her hands again, gathering more protective light.
"No time for games. Keep this up, and I'll chop off an arm— that'll make you behave?"
Buffalord strode over and raised his sword at Saf.
*If that sword isn't a demon weapon, my arm's coming off.*
Buffalord thrust the blade toward Saf's shoulder.
Saf focused the protective light straight ahead and turned her head away. She just couldn't bear to look directly at the blade stabbing toward her.
Clang! A metallic ring echoed as Saf slammed back against the tree. Astonishingly, Buffalord's sword halted at the edge of the light she emitted, unable to pierce it.
"You... blocked it?"
Buffalord tilted his head, inspecting the sword tip.
"Try again."
He swung once more.
Her legs gave out, so all Saf could do was align the protective light against the incoming blade. A sharp clang rang out, and she was flung in the opposite direction.
Saf rolled several times. The impact from the clash plus tumbling on the ground made every joint in her body scream.
At least she hadn't been sliced this time.
Saf shook her head fiercely, trying to clear her mind.
"Not bad. Never seen magic like that."
Buffalord snickered as he brought the blade down again.
Saf blocked it again and was sent flying once more. This time, the back of her head hit the ground, and her vision went white for a moment.
"Stalling till the Sentinel gets here, huh? Fine, I'll humor you. I left the battlefield long before Heltra fell. They might've beaten her by now, but they won't know I'm gone."
Buffalord stabbed at Saf's stomach.
Saf blocked with protective light, was shoved back, and tumbled again. The shock repeated fully. But the accumulated damage amplified the pain.
Saf vomited blood onto the grass.
"Even if they figure out I'm missing, the Sentinel's mount is just a Campania at best. Add the time for the fastest Campania to get here, my travel time, and the time I've wasted on you so far... that means I've got about ten more minutes to play with you."
Buffalord stabbed his blade into the ground and extended a black hand toward Saf. She blocked his reach with protective light again.
"Still got some juice left? Fun."
Buffalord chuckled. "Let's say the Sentinel moves faster than I think, and I'll play for five more minutes. Then you drop that magic wall, I kill the redhead kid, and we're out of here in one minute. You included, of course."
This time, Buffalord swung his fist at Saf's head instead of the sword. She blocked with protective light, but it rang in her skull like a direct hammer blow.
Saf collapsed face-down and vomited blood again.
"The Sentinel will just chase my tail like always these past three years."
He smashed her fist down on the back of Saf's head again. Face-down, she couldn't dodge, so she pressed both hands to her head and blocked the fist with light. She still managed to block with the light, but the impact to her head persisted. Being prone added the jolt of her face hitting the ground.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Buffalord kept punching like it was a game.
Saf held her focus to the end and kept blocking.
Blood streamed from her head down her face in drops, and her left eye, swollen shut from the blood earlier, now wouldn't open from the repeated shocks.
"Still not giving up? Keep this up, and you'll really die."
Buffalord asked.
Saf replied.
"Go ahead. I can block for ten minutes—or an hour."
"You're worth tormenting. Can't waste the fun now. I'll take you along and find way more entertaining ways to play. This ends here."
Buffalord drew a dagger from his belt.
"Just a plain dagger I took from some elves."
Saf trembled in agony as she slowly lifted her head.
"See it?"
The blade had pierced the protective light and touched her forehead.
"Block this too."
Buffalord hurled the dagger at Saf's thigh.
The blade sank into her flesh.
"Aaagh!"
Saf clutched her thigh and screamed. Her endurance snapped. She could no longer maintain the light.
Buffalord checked the cabin. The protective wall guarding Ruby was gone.
He stood.
"Finally."
Buffalord yanked his sword from the ground, then glanced toward the forest.
"Oh? Sentinel's already here?"
Buffalord snickered at Saf.
"Tough luck, kid. Five more minutes, and the Sentinel would've shown up like a miracle."
Buffalord started toward the cabin but felt something snag his foot and looked down.
Saf was clinging to his ankle.
"No. You can't go."
Buffalord ignored her and walked. Saf was dragged along.
"Can't go... No...
Buffalord raised his sword.
"Chop off your arm?"
"Even then... no... Ruby protected me... This time... I have to protect...
"I can figure out your horns without one arm."
"Don't need an arm... As long as I protect Ruby...
"Fine. If that's how you want it."
Buffalord swung the sword down.
Saf braced for the pain of her arm being severed.
*It's gonna hurt like hell. But it's okay. Just hold out five minutes. The Dark Forest Sentinel will come.*
But no pain came.
The blade stopped above her slender forearm. Looking up slightly, she saw a small, pale hand gripping the massive black blade.
It was Ruby.
"I heard everything... even half-asleep...
Ruby punched Buffalord in the gut.
Buffalord flew straight back twenty paces into a tree, smashing into it. The tree snapped, and the black mass tumbled end over end a few times.
"Playing with Saf for ten minutes?"
Ruby gave a cold glare down at the bloodied Saf, then lifted her eyes to lock onto Buffalord sprawled beyond the backyard.
"Come play with me for one minute, you seed that wouldn't sprout even scattered in a flowerbed!"