Chapter 36
Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Crisis? (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Splish! Splash! Splish! Splash!
Oliver kept moving, following Marie's hand with his eyes squeezed shut from the flash bomb's afterglow.
Fortunately, thanks to covering his eyes with his arm, his vision returned soon enough.
When he opened his eyes, all he saw was a damp stone wall, stagnant water, rats scurrying about with their squeaks, and Marie supporting him.
"...Marie?"
"Yes, Master!"
"How did you... get here?"
"I'm sorry for disobeying your order to escape. I'll accept any punishment once we've safely gotten out of here, so please let it slide for now."
Oliver gauged her emotions and could tell she meant every word.
She felt genuine remorse for ignoring his command, without any pretense.
Even though she'd ended up saving his life in the process.
"...How exactly did you get here?"
"I just couldn't bring myself to flee without you, so I followed later. I got the location from the Pharmacist and borrowed a sewer map and some supplies."
Ah, that made sense. The flash bomb from earlier must have come from the Pharmacist too.
Had he foreseen this situation?
"We got lucky, though. To arrive just in time to run into you... The gods must be watching over us."
It was an ironic phrase no matter how many times he heard it. A black magician helped by the gods...? Or was it possible?
Oliver recalled once more the unidentified entity he'd seen in Joseph's secret altar.
Something shaped from intertwined corpses.
"The old man on horseback..."
"Pardon?"
"No... nothing. Anyway, that was dangerous."
"...I'll take my punishment once we're out."
"No, thank you. For saving me."
At those words, Marie's eyes widened round, her face flushing bright red—even her ears turned pink.
"W-We need to head this way."
Marie said as she veered into a side path mid-stride.
"This place...?"
"Wineham's sewers are a mess from all the haphazard digging. A little detour like this, and they won't be able to follow."
"...I'm not so sure about that."
Oliver said, focusing his nerves on his eyes to spot the holy knights pursuing from multiple directions.
They seemed to know the sewers well, spreading out a net to close in.
"We'll run into them if we go this way. Any other paths?"
Oliver grabbed Marie, halting her, and asked.
Marie hurriedly pulled out the map to check.
"Uh, yeah... then this way!"
Oliver followed where she pointed.
They narrowly avoided one crisis, but that didn't mean they were out of the woods.
Every time he thought they'd gained some distance, another group of holy knights would tighten the encirclement, pressing the threat.
At this rate, they'd play cat-and-mouse until they were inevitably caught.
He needed something more proactive.
"Marie, any emotions left? I'm almost out."
"Yes, I brought one."
Marie pulled out a test tube.
Oliver focused his nerves on his eyes the moment he took it. Ten pursuers total.
Split into five pairs, and luckily, thanks to reinforcements, the holy knight was trailing at the rear with her comrades.
Not a bad setup, though it did put her at the back.
Oliver extracted the emotion and cast Obedience on the sewer rats scurrying around, mimicking what he'd seen before.
Obedience
Applied to nearby rats
Squeak-! Squeak-!
Luckily, it wasn't a high-cost spell. He kept casting indiscriminately on every rat he spotted while fleeing, forming a small pack.
Squeak―! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak squeak! Squeak―! Squeak―! Squeak――!
"Wh-What's this...?"
"Rats. Should buy us some time."
With that, Oliver stopped and cast another spell on the horde staring up at him.
The rats gained enough courage to attack humans, splitting into five groups at Oliver's gesture and charging toward the pursuers.
As he'd said, it would buy time—briefly, but enough for him.
"Marie!"
Oliver grabbed Marie and bolted like mad.
His lungs burned from the pace, but he didn't slack on preparations.
Six Hate Bullets and three Black Javelins.
Soon, rounding a corner, he spotted three holy knights in a panic, stomping the rats. Oliver unleashed all six Hate Bullets.
"Damn it!"
They deployed coat shields to block.
As expected, the hate bullets were futilely stopped, but Oliver ignored it and hurled one Black Javelin at each.
The piercing Black Javelins punched through their shields, dealing damage. In the meantime, Oliver and Marie slipped past and fled.
It all flowed seamlessly. Marie gushed with admiration.
"Incredible!"
"No, they've noticed—they're swarming this way. Can we escape after this passage?"
"Yes, Master! There's an exit to the surface; we can hide there safely."
"Good. Then..."
To slow the chase, Oliver extracted emotions and created multiple minions, scattering them like landmines—each infused with Hate Bullet, Wrath Boom, or Creepy Scream.
"That should buy us some time."
"Ahh..."
Marie let out a joyful sound.
"Turn here for the exit... Huh?"
After sprinting and rounding the final corner, Marie's eyes widened like coins.
The passage to freedom was blocked by a massive iron door.
"Th-This is..."
Marie gaped at the oversized door.
Oliver tapped it—just from the sound, it was thick as hell.
"Hmm..."
This was tricky.
With his remaining emotions, he couldn't smash that brute hunk of metal. Even using Marie's would risk a backfire in this confined space—they'd get caught in the blast.
Trapped like rats in a barrel.
As if to underscore it, horrific screams—soul-crushing—echoed with small explosions.
Kiiiyaaaaaaaah―――――――!!!!!
Boom―!
Kaboom――!
Boom――!
His scattered minions activating.
Seemed to inflict decent damage on the holy knights, but they didn't stop pursuing.
"M-Master!"
"Yes?"
"U-Use my emotion. We have to fight, right?"
Oliver looked at Marie. She was dead serious, resolved.
But his mind flashed to the holy knight who nullified all black magic.
The one who rendered his every spell powerless in an instant with radiant light...
"No... It'd be pointless anyway. Holy knights just nullify black magic outright. Extracting yours would be a waste."
"But we can't just sit here twiddling our thumbs!"
True enough. But no solution in sight.
Holy knights... They were strong, but the absolute worst matchup for a black magician.
Oddly, facing death, he felt less fear than regret.
So much left he wanted to know...
Then, a crucial fact surfaced in his mind.
"Marie..."
"Yes?! Have you thought of something...?"
"Got a lighter or matches by chance?"
"Pardon?"
"Lighter or matches."
"...Ah, yes. But why?"
Oliver pulled out the cherished Filterette from his pocket.
The one Joseph had made with that brilliant light before dying.
"Mind lending me a light?"
Marie stared in disbelief at Oliver wanting to smoke amid the crisis, but she nodded with resolve.
"If it's okay... I'd like to light it for you."
"Ah, sure... Go ahead."
As Oliver put the Filterette in his mouth, Marie steadied her trembling hands and politely lit it.
His first taste of Filterette.
Inhaling deeply, the smoke carried Joseph's emotions into his body.
This was... something else...
"......"
A profound silence fell. Marie gauged his mood before cautiously speaking.
"Even if it's come to this... It was truly an honor to serve you, Master... Thank you so much."
"......"
Oliver stayed silent, no reply.
As if deep in thought.
Soon, footsteps grew louder—a group appeared.
Holy Knight Joanna and her comrades.
They'd suffered from his minions, looking ragged—numbers dwindled too, some taken out.
Except Joanna, all were furious to the brink.
"Got you, you rat... Knew you'd run here, so we sealed off some rat holes in advance."
"Foolish bastards... Think we've only dealt with scum like you once or twice?!"
Not that their state looked great, but no one pointed it out.
They had him cornered, after all.
Marie stepped in front of Oliver, drawing her crude gun.
Pointless against those who'd swept through gangs and black magicians.
"Huff... Huff... Huff..."
Marie's breaths ragged from tension.
Irked by the sight, one holy knight swiftly raised a cross-shaped gun and pulled the trigger.
Bang――――――――!
The gunshot echoed through the sewers, blood spraying, a body crumpling.
Marie collapsed into the filth.
Or she should have. Shockingly, she didn't.
Unknown tentacles erupted from the sewer floor, shielding her.
"..........Huh?"
Marie and the holy knights alike blurted at the mystery tentacles.
Shadow black magic...? No, not quite. Similar, but different. Closer look: not mere shadow—something blacker, darker.
Like the abyss of a night sea.
"......!!!!"
Everyone recoiled, sensing the otherworldly wrongness.
Correction: not everyone. Oliver stood still.
"......Ahhh. What... is this?"
Oliver muttered.
His blank face twitched oddly as he spouted nonsense.
"Is this... how it's supposed to be? Filterette?! I feel it. I feel...! The sadness he felt, the rage, the hope... the longing! Joy!! Regret!!! Everything...! I feel it all!!!"
His drugged eyes bulged as he eyed the holy knights.
Embarrassing as it was for them, his mad visage instilled instant fear in all.
Even Holy Knight Joanna.
Instinct told them—this black magician was different.
Indescribable, but they all knew: kill this ominous thing now.
Yet none dared act, frozen as if by the enigma itself.
In the heavy, fearful silence, the cross-gun wielder screamed, raising his barrel.
"Arrrghhh—! Die, demon!"
Oliver instantly extracted his own emotions, scattering them across the sewer floor.
The black light spread like a virus, engulfing not just the sewers but the holy knights too.
Like paint slapped on—alien. And so fast, no time to shoot or resist.
Just devoured by the dark.
Only Holy Knight Joanna activated her holy art to resist.
The sacred barrier from her Dominic Family clash—shielding self and allies.
Powerful, yet meaningless before Oliver.
It briefly shone to save those swallowed by dark, but that was it.
The light faded powerlessly.
Devoured anew.
Watching, Joanna cried out again.
Holy flames meant to incinerate all surged toward the dark—but at Oliver's casual gesture, the darkness enveloped the blast.
Swallowing even Joanna. All that remained: her mouth and one eye.
"......"
Oliver approached her silently, gazing expectantly.
Joanna's lone eye, swallowed by dark, flashed terror—then resolve as she spoke.
"...O, holy Father. I thank Thee for sending Thy children to this land and entrusting us with duty. Though I fail the glorious mission Thou gavest, I trust in Thee and beg mercy. Pity these children, gather us to Thy bosom, and watch over those left behind... Kill me. I won't beg for my life."
Her remaining eye glared defiantly at Oliver.
In her shone a beauty unlike the lightning mage's—profound, transcendent.
Oliver extended his hand toward her.
And uttered.