Bait and Shadows
Bait. The moment Regina Gura and the examiners left the testing grounds, the thieves(?) vanished without a trace. The circle they'd formed around me and my contractor at the start had probably just been to display their numbers and armaments. Considerate, for a band of thieves. Even so, I could never forgive their leader, Sion. After everything we'd been through together (two whole days), she dared to betray us? If I ever catch her, she's in for it.
“Raven.”
My contractor's calm voice reached me. I tore my gaze from Sion's likely hiding spot and turned toward the sound. Her face remained perfectly serene, as if the possibility of being lynched by five mad thieves didn't bother her in the slightest. We'd only just met, yet she offered me this excessive trust. Still, I didn't dislike it.
“What is it, Contractor?”
I brushed the white powder from her hair and shoulders as I asked. She lifted her head to look up at me.
“Please take care of me this time as well.”
I paused. She'd said the same thing the day we first met. But unlike then, when anxiety and fear had been mixed in, all I felt from her now was an overwhelming, almost excessive faith. If she was going to trust me this much, I supposed I ought to live up to it.
Thud.
I placed my hand lightly atop her head, meeting her half-lidded eyes that squinted against the sunlight spilling over my shoulder.
“Just trust me.”
“Kkyu!”
Ah, and Kkachi too.
“Yes...!”
She's been smiling a lot more lately. Maybe hunting that Rabbit Spider in the dungeon gave her a boost in self-esteem? Whatever the reason, it was nice to see. I thoroughly ruffled my contractor's hair as she wore that pure, age-appropriate smile, then turned away. As I walked, I activated one of the Plague Doctor Mask's completely useless functions: the “Red Eyes Flash!” light.
—Click.
Eyes flash!
Two crimson dots bloomed on the black lenses of the crow-like mask, casting an eerie glow. The taste and scent of fear lingering on my tongue deepened slightly. So the rats had been hiding and watching us after all? Interesting bunch, really.
“Kkachi.”
I'll leave the rear to you.
“Kkyu.”
I turned my back on Kkachi's solemn cry and followed the trail of fear at a steady pace. They probably thought that by forcing me to protect my contractor, my movements would be restricted. But I was a damage-support demon who eliminated enemies to preserve allies. Waiting anxiously for the enemy to come wasn't my style. I preferred striking first, landing the opening blow, and causing chaos. Guerrilla tactics over siege warfare, you could say.
I loosened my neck with a casual roll and kicked off toward the strongest concentration of fear. Let's see how well they could run. The hunt had begun.
***
“Then, from now on, I will count ten minutes, is the case! The test begins, is the case! Everyone, it's good to give it your all, but be careful not to get hurt, is the case!”
With Regina Gura's energetic voice, the defensive engagement evaluation began. Yet the arena was eerily quiet for a test that had supposedly started. Only the low whisper of wind through the grass and the creak of wooden planks broke the tense silence.
What? How did he know to come this way?
...Why is he approaching from over there?
Huh?
The examiners, hidden behind cover and waiting for an opening, stared in bewilderment as Raven charged straight toward them instead of staying with his escort target. The defensive engagement evaluation was meant to assess how well one protected the target from attacking enemies. That was why the examiners didn't go all out at first—they still had to evaluate, even with Dallant on the line. But if he was going to be this careless...
Then we'll just have to show him the price of letting his guard down.
Once Raven left his position, one examiner lying prone behind a sandbag near Yuri slowly raised his upper body.
Stay calm.
He desperately wanted to rush out and swing his sugar stick at that tempting back of the head for four million Dallant, but the examiner restrained himself with superhuman willpower.
The opponent is a demon.
The most dangerous, intelligent, and high-ranking existence among familiars. Therefore...
Letting one's guard down is forbidden.
Mana circulating through the examiner's body concentrated in his eyes. At the same time, one tightly shut eye opened, revealing a jewel-like orb that seemed to hold a clear sky.
Mana Detection.
The examiner's world changed. In a blue-tinted realm, he saw faint white sources of light. Mana—the remnant of omnipotence leaking from the goddess's breath. Even as he took in those fragments of great myth with his eyes, the examiner remained composed. Scenery was only breathtaking the first or second time; miracles became just another part of daily life when encountered every day.
But then—
Why can't I see anything?
He'd expected magical traps, or at least some protective magic on the escort target. Yet...
He left without doing anything...?
There was a faint trace of mana from the robe the target wore, but the partially standardized pattern suggested it was simply an artifact robe itself. Not magic cast by a demon.
Just what is he thinking?
Rumors said he cherished his contractor enough to carry her in his arms. So what was this? Is he just abandoning her? The examiner couldn't begin to understand the demon's intentions.
At that moment—
Twinkle, twinkle.
A thin beam of light stabbed at the examiner's eyes. A signal that things had gone wrong and the test should end immediately.
...Already? Not even two minutes have passed.
“Haa...”
The examiner had wanted to observe a little longer, but with a sigh he rose to his feet, compelled by the light jabbing at his eyes. He ran.
Tatat!
Straight toward the small target left alone.
No magical traps even after coming this far? Strange. Really.
The distance was short, so the examiner reached Yuri's back in an instant.
“I can't see anything because it's too far...”
Yuri remained oblivious even as the examiner stood right behind her, thanks to the bonuses from 【Stealthy Steps】 and 【Ambush】.
Cute.
Suppressing a laugh at the sight of Yuri bouncing on tiptoe, the examiner offered her a silent apology in his heart. Then he lightly brought the sugar stick down on the crown of her small head.
In that instant—
—Shraaaak!!!
“...!?”
Darkness flooded the examiner's vision.
“This damn—!!!”
He instantly gathered mana in his legs and kicked off hard, retreating at high speed. A sharp wind grazed right in front of his eyes.
...Fast!
A moment later and he would have been hit. His chest ached as if it might burst from the sudden physical exertion. His muscles screamed.
“...What was that just now?”
Wiping cold sweat with a trembling hand, he looked back at where he'd been standing.
“What on earth...?”
He hadn't seen it clearly because it had been too fast, but the examiner had definitely witnessed it—dozens of black tentacle-like strands writhing into the robe worn by the target.
“Oh, thank you, Kkachi.”
The target muttered to herself while staring this way with a calm expression, as if she hadn't nearly been ambushed. A chill ran down the examiner's spine.
Don't tell me...
The demon hadn't been careless, nor had he abandoned his contractor.
“His own contractor...”
He'd used her as bait? A glimpse of madness beyond a criminal's comprehension.
“Insane demon...”
Having witnessed even a fragment of it, the examiner finally understood why Raven was called the Demon of Terror. This can't be handled alone. Those strange tentacles were clearly an authority the demon had planted in his contractor—there was no mana to detect. Dispel wouldn't work, and judging by the reaction speed, breaking through head-on was impossible. So...
Should I call for help...?
The examiner's body, which had been turning to summon his fellow examiners, came to an abrupt halt as if he'd hit the brakes. No matter how hard he tried to lift his legs, they stuck to the ground like nails had been driven through his feet.
“What the—?”
He looked down at his feet without thinking.
....There was his shadow. And from the head of that shadow, a single thin black line extended.
“Ah.”
The shadow touching the black line grew darker. No, it was still growing darker. The examiner felt as if his shadow were coming alive. The darkness, spreading like ink dropped in water from the head downward, eventually dyed his entire shadow. Then—
—Thud.
Suddenly, something grabbed his ankle and pulled him down.
“...Save—”
.......
Leaving behind a short scream, the examiner vanished from the testing grounds, his shadow—now bearing a black thread on its head—left behind.
“...Kkachi. That person just now is still alive, right?”
“Kkyu!”
Fortunately, he is alive. Probably.