182. Apostle of the Dream Demon (2)
182. Apostle of the Dream Demon (2)
Shudder─
Suzuki Satoru witnessed it firsthand—Ichika held in the arms of a stranger.
The corners of his eyes trembled uncontrollably.
He'd stepped away for only a moment to deal with intruders, and in that brief window, a pest had latched onto her.
She was his immaculate goddess, his destined mate, a masterpiece he'd been painstakingly sculpting for ages. Satoru had always been desperately careful, guarding her so jealously that he'd even refrained from touching her first, lest she be defiled.
So how could his eyes not roll back in fury, seeing the woman he'd treasured so obsessively being soiled in real time by another man's hands?
And that face, on top of everything.
It was a level of looks beyond even the fantasies Satoru himself had conjured—on a completely different plane.
Inside Suzuki Satoru, viscous rage and sticky feelings of inferiority churned together, seething to a boil.
"Wha... what did you do to her?! You... what, what did you do?! D-don't tell me you dared to lay a hand on her?! She... she's mine! M-mine!!!"
Suzuki glared at him, eyes bloodshot, and screamed.
The suspicious stranger who'd appeared out of nowhere carefully laid Ichika on the ground, handling her like something precious.
Every bit of that process stoked Suzuki's killing intent.
The man looked at him, then scratched his head and muttered something incomprehensible.
"Ah, the boss is already showing up...... Hah, tch... I wonder if I can hold out solo? I really hope the others get here before it's too late......"
"Wh-where'd a bastard like you crawl in from......!!!"
"Me? Jin Yu-ha of Utopia. I'm here on a request."
At Jin Yu-ha's utterly nonchalant reply, Suzuki's brow furrowed.
'Utopia......? What the hell is that? Jin Yu-ha? Wait, could he be Korean?'
Right now, the name Jin Yu-ha of Utopia was setting the world ablaze, but Utopia had only recently made a name for itself in Japan. On top of that, this man had been hiding out in Jukai Forest for ages—there was no way he'd know the name Utopia.
"Th-that name......! You bastard! A filthy Korean! Wh-what'd a stinking Korean come crawling in here for, thinking there's something to scavenge in our Rina's domain?! G-get the hell back to your own country!!! P-piss off!!!"
"Is your head on backwards? I just told you and you still can't get it. I came because a request was filed. A request filed by this woman."
As he spoke, Jin Yu-ha pointed at Ichika lying behind him.
'A request? He came because of a request......?'
Suzuki's face went rigid.
He'd been wondering why such monstrous hunters had suddenly stormed into Jukai Forest, and it seemed Ichika had put in a request.
'But when did she request it? Had she been sending rescue calls to hunters without me knowing?'
No, that was impossible. For the past month, he'd been stuck to her side 24/7, constantly watching her.
If she had filed the request, then it was probably early on, right when he'd resolved to make her his. That period when he'd been bombarding her with auditory hallucinations every dawn, trying to break her mind.
'Ichikaaa—! You're doing useless things—!!!'
He would've let her taste heavenly bliss if only she'd stayed still.
The realization that the main culprit who'd wrecked his plan was none other than her made Suzuki gnaw on his lip.
'Fine. It's still fine...... If he came to rescue her, he probably didn't do anything much to her.'
He fixed sharp eyes on Jin Yu-ha.
Using everything he'd learned so far, he deduced how this bastard had ended up here.
'...While those brute women lured me away, this one's role was to rescue Ichika. But I came back too fast, that's all!'
Completely wrong, but Suzuki had no choice but to delude himself.
The one standing before him with just a shiny outer shell was a man. And he was alone, on top of that.
'...I'd like nothing more than to make the dog who touched Ichika suffer eternal torment, but......'
He was the very incarnation of Lust. He'd inherited an incubus's Authority in a human body, so the mere thought of losing to a male hunter named Jin Yu-ha couldn't even cross his mind.
'Those hunters will be here soon. So I need to finish this as fast as possible and take Ichika out of this forest and run...... If Ichika had tried to resist, it'd be hard, but luckily she's unconscious right now.'
Once his mind was made up, Suzuki drew his internal demonic energy to its absolute limit.
Gooooooooh─
A murky, pinkish, viscous aura rippled like spilled paint across his entire body.
That demonic energy gathered into his hands, transforming into the shape of an enormous scythe.
Whuuung─
Without a moment's delay, he lifted the giant scythe in both hands and swung it in a massive arc like an axe.
The great blade of sword qi extending from it split instantly into dozens, then hundreds of separate blades.
Dream Fang Sickle (夢牙鎌).
A scythe multiplied into countless illusions. While the target's gaze was stolen by the phantoms, one real fang would bite clean through their throat.
'...Unless you can ignore physical attacks like Ichika, you have no way to survive this!!'
However.
Even as hundreds of blades crashed toward him like a wave, Jin Yu-ha just tilted his head slightly, as if something was a little off.
While the illusory sword qi bore down on him and passed through, Jin Yu-ha stood there without a twitch.
Then, all of a sudden—
Swish─
—he turned his head aside.
He'd singled out and dodged the one real blade among them! Suzuki's eyes stretched wide, as if about to split apart.
"H-how—! My Dream Fang Sickle!!"
"......What was that, were you just testing me or something?"
* * *
'......What the hell is this?'
I couldn't hide my bafflement.
This guy, Suzuki Satoru, was someone I knew.
He's the boss of Jukai Forest. And a guy who uses a pretty damn annoying set of abilities.
The Apostle of Incubus.
In the game's story, it was impossible to fully finish him off. A tough opponent you could only defeat when the dead requester's power was added at the very last moment.
Honestly, having to face him alone without any backup from the parties, I had no choice but to be on edge.
That's how it was supposed to be......
'What the hell, why is this bastard so weak......?'
The scythe he was swinging wobbled pathetically. The splitting illusions were trash, through and through. So much so that all I had to do was sense his killing intent, pick out the real blade, and just dodge that.
'......Did I get strong enough to take this guy on alone?'
That thought even crossed my mind for a second, but I shook my head right away.
Back in the game, even six characters with maxed-out ability-enhancing tickets pulled from the gacha struggled to deal with him.
No matter how much stronger I've gotten compared to expectations, me alone handling the workload of six people? Even if this is only Phase 1, that's nonsense.
'Ah, now that I think about it......'
Suddenly, what Ichika had said earlier when she'd mistaken me for Suzuki Satoru surfaced in my mind.
─ Dream Demon, incubus. You should know you can't defeat me inside my domain.
Back then, I'd brushed it off lightly, too caught up in the excitement of finding a new Special. But thinking about it now, that was a weird thing to say.
No matter how broken her traits are, the idea that she could overwhelm the boss of Jukai Forest was ridiculous.
WHOOOOSH—!!
Staying wary of potential traps, I dodged the attacks hammering in. There was only one real one mixed in anyway, so lightly pivoting my body was more than enough.
'It really is strange......'
Wondering if he might be hiding some other scheme, I kept watching him.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
WHOOOSH!!!!
But he was just drenched in sweat, teeth clenched, swinging his scythe like a madman. As if managing to land even one hit was his sole purpose.
No matter how I looked at it, there was no way that was an act.
'......The obsession with Ichika, and then death? Ah...... wait.'
For a second, my eyes flew wide open.
'Could it be, this bastard, did he have his awakening because Ichika died......?'
But Ichika didn't die, because I took the right measures in time. And because of that, the bastard couldn't awaken?
If so, it all makes sense.
'Then...... don't tell me I can take this guy out right now, all by myself?'
The corner of my mouth tugged upward.
* * *
Twitch─
Ichika, who'd been knocked out by a strike to the nape of her neck, felt her brow quiver. Then her consciousness snapped awake.
'N-no─!!!!!!'
She mustn't fall asleep. Even if her eyes were shut, her mind had to stay awake. Because she didn't know what that horrific Dream Demon would do to her while she slept.
Of course, even when she slept, the spirits that followed her did stand guard for her. But if she didn't actively use her ability, the spirits couldn't exert any physical force.
And so, it had already been months since she'd had proper sleep. To be honest, she was at her limit now.
To the point that earlier, before the Dream Demon had come, she'd nodded off for a moment.
What happened moments ago replayed in Ichika's mind like a panorama. The figure of a man who'd dashed through the spirits like a ghost, closing in on her.
'......Ah, it's all over.'
Emptiness rose from somewhere deep in her chest.
'The incubus got stronger......'
For some reason, he'd briefly left, then returned in an instant, the Dream Demon who'd completely changed his appearance. Starting with the destructive power of his looks, everything about him was altered—on another dimension entirely. As if he'd become a totally different person in a single moment.
The stench that always assaulted her nose. The oily, glistening eyes of desire that only ever disgusted her. The corner of his mouth that crept up with sheer vileness. Even his habit of stammering.
When everything that had filled her with such revulsion vanished, the inner barrier she'd been holding up so well crumbled. She could no longer suppress the impulse.
A moment ago, her own hands, coveting the Dream Demon's lower body—and the Dream Demon, detestably avoiding her touch while feigning innocence and fluster—recalling that scene, an unbearable wave of nausea surged up from inside her.
Uegh.
'I'm afraid to open my eyes......'
She was afraid that if she opened her eyes, she'd see the Dream Demon again. Afraid she'd be bewitched by his body, lose her mind, and start panting. Afraid that she'd then truly, from the bottom of her heart, start longing for that piece of trash. Ichika was terribly afraid of that.
That was when it happened.
─ Ichika. Ichika! Open your eyes!
─ Ichika, the Dream Demon over there is dying!
─ Quick, get up! Wake up! Hurry!!!
'What......?'
The voices of the spirits suddenly filled her ears.
The Dream Demon was dying? What did that mean?
That incubus who had so overwhelmingly overpowered her?
Her heart flustered, she slowly opened her eyes.
"What is this......?"
And she saw.
"......Two incubuses......?"