Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: Restless Land
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The bright, innocent girl's smile that had been on her face until just moments ago fades away like a candle snuffed out by the republic's piercing chill.
Before she knew it, the hero who had forgotten her own past and vowed a fresh start had returned to this place.
Sling.
As Aria pulls the greatsword from the ground and slings it over her shoulder, her eyes hold a calm composure that couldn't belong to the girl who had been noisily complaining moments before.
The greatsword slung over her shoulder tears open.
A massive maw appears, spewing a monstrous scream.
Oscoph frowns at the black magic aura emanating from within it.
"The Sword of Devouring, Duatine?"
A weapon one could call alive. Especially since its properties and characteristics change endlessly depending on what it devours.
Even the Clock Republic, which conducts extensive research on weapons, had taken interest in this greatsword but couldn't acquire it, as it was hidden away in the Griffin Kingdom.
"Did you feed it black mages?"
Oscoph wears an incredulous expression. Unlike the Griffin Kingdom, the Clock Republic actively accepts black mages, so he has some knowledge of black magic.
For that much black magic aura to pour out through Duatine, it must have been no ordinary person.
And Oscoph's guess was spot on.
Back when Aria was still obsessed with Deus Verdi as a hero, she had fed two Dante black mages to Duatine and tried gifting it to him, only to be refused.
After that, it had been a troublesome item she kept on hand, never imagining she'd end up using it like this.
Kieeeek!
With Duatine's scream, Aria swings the greatsword outright. Even from quite a distance, the force that pushes the very space itself is tremendous.
Only the superhuman Oscoph manages to stand firm on his two legs.
His buzzsaw greatsword begins to roar wildly, emitting noise just like Duatine.
"Kingdom folk are truly ridiculous."
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Oscoph advances with heavy footsteps.
"Living such lukewarm lives, yet acting like they're something special."
Thud.
He stops right in front of Aria, looking down at her. Just gazing up at Oscoph, who stands 3 meters tall thanks to Unbreakable Armor, feels overwhelming to Aria.
Their height difference is more than double.
In a situation already crushed by sheer mass, Oscoph raises his buzzsaw greatsword high.
"Elegance and grace are merely proof of a lack of intensity."
Kwaaaaang!
The buzzsaw greatsword slams down and spins without hesitation across the ground. Normally, this should have pulverized Aria's entire body, sending blood splattering everywhere.
But the buzzsaw greatsword only grinds into the ground, sparks flying.
Aria, having leaped into the air, grips Duatine with both hands and spins her entire body like a top.
Kwaang!
A strike so heavy it's hard to believe it came from the small girl's hands.
Oscoph, struck in the head in that instant, exhales a tense breath, realizing he nearly blacked out.
But Aria and Duatine don't stop there.
Black magic aura extends from Duatine, forming hands that seize Oscoph's repelled shoulder.
It yanks Aria toward Oscoph, and she continues her combo without even landing on the ground.
Faced with the onslaught, Oscoph has no choice but to raise his greatsword high for defense.
Aria leaps in all directions as if gravity has no hold on her alone, continuing the fight.
Wielding a long, heavy weapon like a greatsword, against an enemy more than twice her size, she engages purely in close-quarters combat without giving an inch.
A fighting style remarkably tough, unlike her delicate appearance.
"Hoo."
A deep exhale.
Just that sends chills down his spine. Oscoph desperately raises his sword to create distance, but.
Thud!
Aria stomps the ground with both feet, and mana explodes outward in a spectacular display.
The black mana contained in Duatine spreads like ink, enveloping the surroundings.
The landscape darkens to pitch black, as if shrouded in massive storm clouds. Oscoph feels like he's floating in the night sky.
"Crescent Moon."
Then, the girl's sword unleashes its strike, a blade shaped like the moon in the night sky flowing smoothly forth.
Cracks begin to form on Unbreakable Armor, said to be impossible to break.
Crack!
As Unbreakable Armor shatters, Oscoph inside it touches the ground with his own legs for the first time in ages.
One could say he gained freedom from the Unbreakable Armor he thought inescapable, but Oscoph feels no joy at all.
"No... way."
"Hoo!"
Regardless of Oscoph's reaction, Aria catches her breath with a "hoo" and slings the greatsword over her shoulder.
She unleashes a combo fantastical enough to call illusory, yet spares his life?
"Showing... mercy?!"
Oscoph cries out in humiliation, but Aria replies indifferently.
"The professor asked me not to take lives for my own sake."
She had refused that request back in Northsweden, but things are different now.
A proper young lady doesn't casually take others' lives.
"More than that, you're ridiculously tough. Had to drive in Crescent Moon just to barely break it."
Aria mutters in disbelief, nudging the shattered remains of Oscoph's Unbreakable Armor with her foot. Her brow furrows.
"What is this?"
Even Aria, who had witnessed countless tragedies and horrors before her regression, had never seen anything like this.
Unlike its sturdy exterior, the inside of Unbreakable Armor writhes like hundreds of insects seeking a new host.
A grotesque sight that nearly induces vomiting. Did Oscoph, who wore this, even know?
Aria pulls back, questions arising.
She glances back at Pindenai, who is leaning against the Kidzon main gate, breathing steadily.
The Extermination Squad members seem to have lost the will to fight upon Oscoph's defeat.
Eeeeeng!
A buzzing cry that anyone has heard at least once in midsummer.
"Mosquitoes?"
Aria grimaces and looks around. Before she knows it, the area is swarming with flying insects.
Staring at the gathering bugs, Aria instinctively knows.
Their master is the creator of that Unbreakable Armor—a thing that shouldn't exist in this world.
The insects crawl on the ground and fly through the sky, soon clumping together to form a human shape.
The bugs then scatter in all directions, leaving a hunched old man standing there.
If Oscoph was twice Aria's size, this man is the opposite.
His hunched back makes him seem much smaller than Aria. But if he straightened up, he'd be at least 180cm—an elderly man.
The old man leaning on a staff greets Aria with interest.
"What's your name, miss?"
"Don't sexually harass me."
"Kekeke, that wasn't my intent, but feel free to take it that way."
Pleased by Aria's reaction, the old man chuckles, places a hand on his chest, and introduces himself.
"I'm Filai. The father of Pindenai behind you."
"...What?"
Aria whips around in shock. Hearing it from behind, Pindenai musters her remaining strength to flip him the bird.
"Bullshit, you bastard."
The old man who called himself Filai bursts into laughter at her firm attitude.
"You fell for it, right? Fun, wasn't it? Intriguing for a moment? Kahaha! That's what they call having a sense of humor!"
"Crazy fucker."
Pindenai grits her teeth in hatred, but the old man wipes tears of laughter and responds.
"Hahaha, Bactrus Nikolai, Chief Director of the Clock Republic's Armament Development Division. Also a Dante black mage, like the ones your greatsword ate."
"...From Dante?"
"Yep yep. It's a side gig."
Nodding, Bactrus approaches the bisected Unbreakable Armor and peers down at it.
"Hmm, to think you'd break Oscoph's special Unbreakable Armor. Impressive. Thanks to you, I got some good research material."
"What now?"
Aria grips her greatsword again and assumes a stance.
"You won't have time to use that precious research. You'll be the third Dante to get eaten by this greatsword."
"Hahaha! Is that Duatine for me too? What a bundle of gifts today!"
They exchange words without it feeling like a conversation, yet it's endlessly unpleasant.
Bactrus, this old man, is utterly repulsive and loathsome to others, yet possesses strength enough to live that way.
'Not your average foe.'
Even Aria, who had hunted two Dante black mages at once, has to acknowledge Bactrus's power.
"Ah, it's time."
Bactrus looks up as if he'd been waiting.
Aria had momentarily forgotten amid his intense presence, but.
Golden light spreads from the marker in all directions, soon forming a human silhouette.
Beings clad in thick golden robes—the elite forces upholding a pillar of the kingdom's strength.
Magic Inquisitors.
And at their forefront, Magic Judge Tairn All Bellocus.
Bactrus laughs again as he gazes up at Tairn, who glares around indifferently with seething hostility.
"Hahaha! Big shots have arrived! Is the kingdom declaring war?!"
Amused, Bactrus taps the ground with his staff, but Tairn slowly turns and clears a path.
"You commit acts with not a shred of respect for the kingdom, yet dare speak of war?"
A golden-haired girl in a dress utterly out of place in a camp, with a sword at her waist that doesn't suit the dress.
"Hunchback, you're disgusting—don't open your mouth. I'm tempted to vent Northsweden's frustrations on you."
At the appearance of Griffin Kingdom's princess, Elenoa Luden Griffin, even Bactrus widens his eyes and flashes a chilling smile without laughter.
"Well now, for Her Highness the princess to come to such a dangerous place."
"......"
"Accidents happen here—people die and no one bats an eye."
Eeeeeng.
One bug tries to land naturally on Princess Elenoa's pale skin, but.
"Hup!"
Tairn's mana barrier beside her blocks it, incinerating it on the spot.
The golden robes of the Magic Inquisitors ripple space itself.
Armaments that counter all magic— their defensive power made even Deus wary of facing Tairn.
"Hoo."
Bactrus shows thick interest in the Magic Judge's robe. That spelled carelessness.
"Tairn."
At Elenoa's cold command, Magic Judge Tairn channels power into his body, grips his spear-like staff, and charges forward.
Bactrus chuckles as Tairn rushes to his side, but.
Tairn's staff strikes Bactrus's hunched back precisely.
Woodudududududu!
His back straightens, and Bactrus flattens to the ground like a bug. Tairn's mana creates intense pressure, crushing him completely.
"Ch-Chief Director!"
Oscoph tries to react but, having lost Unbreakable Armor, can't even move.
The other Extermination Squad members are the same.
Before Tairn's overwhelming magic power, they can't move properly.
Bactrus lies crushed into the dirt like a dead centipede, but.
"Hahaha! Are you really starting a war?!"
Suddenly, Bactrus laughs right next to Oscoph. Tairn checks in alarm the corpse he killed, but it decomposes into hundreds of bugs and vanishes.
"Princess! Do you grasp the situation? You're in the heart of enemy territory. Surely you know how valuable your body is?"
Bactrus licks his lips, tongue sliding over nose, cackling, but.
Elenoa replies with a sneer curling her lips.
"You're an idiot."
"Huh?"
"I've been ignoring you until now, so you thought I really knew nothing."
"......"
The warp marker Aria placed throbs.
Golden beams of light.
They descend once more from sky to earth.
This time, no massive mana for a great army is needed.
Only one silhouette is cradled within the golden glow.
"Do you know the weight of the blood you've spilled?"
"...Ha."
Realizing who it is, Bactrus grips his staff with a tense expression for the first time.
Gulp.
Saliva passes through his hunched back as bugs slowly gather.
"Soon, you'll learn. How heavy death is."
Watching him, Elenoa smiles sweetly.
"Indeed, can you halt his steps?"
And so.
As the light pillar completes its role and fades.
There stands a grim-faced man called a Necromancer in the kingdom.
A quiet hush settles low to welcome him, like a solemn greeting. Eyes filled with poignant thoughts take in the republic.
"How."
A sigh directed at sky and earth.
He speaks with genuine pity.
"Is it so restless."
As if he sees something.