Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 039
Chapter Title: Yohan's Bizarre Vacation (7)
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"Hear the sound of the falling rain!"
The sound of the falling rain...
"Coming down like an Armageddon flame! Hey!"
Pouring down like the flames of Armageddon.
I belt out the song while staring at the zombies swarming up from the auditorium rooftop.
Holiday really is a great tune. Look at them—the zombies are loving it.
"Aaaahhh—!"
I watch as they tangle and twist into each other, forming makeshift stairs and ladders, clambering over one another to reach the rooftop.
...Yeah, I can't just stand here.
I draw a pistol from inside my coat and pull the trigger on the nearest zombie climbing up.
Bang—!
"Aaah...!"
"Hahaha!"
No real damage, but the one that took a bullet to the head gets knocked back by the impact and tumbles down rolling.
"The shame, the ones who died without a name!"
It's a shame they died nameless...
The recoil shakes my body. I keep singing.
Pull the trigger.
Bang—!
"Hear the dogs howling out of key!"
Hear the dogs howling out of tune...
Bang—! Bang—! Baaang—!
"Aaah...!"
'Damn... shooting zombies while singing—this is fun as hell!'
All the stress from this campout is melting away.
Best part is, spraying bullets like this isn't even a crime.
Or is it corpse desecration? ...Screw it.
I've been slaving away here with no payday. Time I had some fun.
Life's gotta be lived positive, right?
Bang—!
"To a hymn called Faith and Misery! Hey!"
Howling a hymn called Faith and Misery.
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
I don't bother aiming. Zombies everywhere—hit's a hit no matter where.
"Beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies!"
I pray to dream and differ from empty lies.
Zombies swarm onto the rooftop. I pull the trigger.
Bang—! Click—click—.
I shove the empty pistol into my coat pocket. Kick a zombie in the head.
Dodge the ones that've climbed up, backpedal while focusing on the song.
"This is our lives on—"
The highlight's coming...
"holiday—!!!!!!"
This is our lives on holiday!
"Haa..."
Yeah, at least among everyone who came to this camp today, I had the most fun.
"Hoo..."
I stop singing and toss the mic carelessly to the ground. The zombies halt too.
Not because I sang too well.
It's because 'he' showed up.
I eye the stiff-faced old man climbing up the zombie staircase.
I know it the second I see him. He's the one controlling these zombies.
The necromancer behind all this.
'...This time he's in a living body.'
The two mages size each other up.
Edward immediately checks the ground where Yohan stands.
...No magic circle.
Edward sneers inwardly at Yohan's foolish choice.
"Wasted precious time evacuating the others? What an idiot."
Around Edward line up eleven zombies clearly superior to the rest—ones he'd personally crafted.
Armored in plate, armed with rune-etched spears and axes, they look like knights.
"In the end, just a civilian who lucked into a grimoire. Impressive for a bit, but that's your limit."
To salve his pride wounded earlier by that magic circle.
Edward's cold voice rings out.
"...Any last words?"
I look at him.
I wasn't singing just to save the others. Partly to lure this guy out.
After a while, I was just enjoying myself.
But the way he checked for a magic circle right away... that earlier attack must've stuck with him.
A faint smile creeps up.
...He focused too much on me.
Did I haul all this sound gear up here by myself?
Anyway, at his classic line, I deliver the comic-book response I've always wanted to say.
"Come."
"...What?"
Edward frowns at the nonsense, then his face twists in shock.
Yohan's empty hand ripples as a grimoire summons into it.
Nothing odd about a grimoire's master summoning his grimoire.
Except this wasn't it.
A grimoire bound in dark steel covers.
De Vermis Mysteriis.
Another grimoire that shouldn't exist.
'...Two grimoires?'
Paang—! With an explosion, Edward's left shoulder blasts off with his arm.
"..........? Gahk!"
His heart took a hit too. Edward vomits blood and collapses.
'...What? The hell?'
A calm, low voice continues toward Edward.
"Come come come."
It had punch in the comics. Mine just sounds meh?
Whatever. Zombie-packed rooftop. Terrifying sight, but I'm good.
I've got something scarier with me.
A hungry Grizzly.
"■■■■■—!!"
The transparent vampire, confined till now by its master's command, roars.
Right before Edward's eyes.
Kwaaaaang—!!
Zombies get shredded by something invisible.
Air bursts, zombie limbs and heads fly through the air.
Everything they'd stacked up crumbles.
".............."
The bloodlust and rage filling him vanish.
The transparent monster roars.
"■■■■■—!!"
Unfathomable terror takes its place.
Cosmic horror.
Edward's eyes tremble. His mage instincts scream.
'That thing' isn't of this earth.
An existence that shouldn't be.
I stride past the obliterated zombies.
Step—step—.
"Funny, huh, Mr. Mage?"
I approach Edward with a ridiculous grin.
"All that prep with magic, and it's powerless against overwhelming physical force."
Well, it was mocking me too.
...But technically, Grizzly's a magic summon, so this counts as magic.
Edward glares at Yohan, spewing blood.
"Y-You... power of the outer gods!"
This guy who praised the Lord moments ago, wielding an outer god's familiar? Impossible.
No heresy like this.
And in response to Edward's cry, a calm voice echoes.
"Outer god? Oh, Cthulhu. Why shouldn't I use it?"
Not mockery—genuine confusion, like he really doesn't know.
Edward's pale face blanks, then contorts.
"...That's dangerous power! Not for a punk like you!"
But—
"...Dangerous power, huh. I already know something similar. Nuclear power."
"What, you say?"
Still so casual.
"Exposed without protection, it harms body and mind? Right."
"Mismanaged, massive casualties? Right."
"Cthulhu's like nuclear power. Dangerous, sure, but not a reason not to use it."
Zeus, Odin, the Lord, outer gods—all just energy blobs in mythic skins.
If I need it, no reason not to.
Edward bleeds and speaks.
"Gahk... It's power beyond control."
"I can handle it."
"—!!"
The words flow so naturally, Edward's speechless.
I laugh at my own words, absurd as they are.
"...I know. I can do it. No one else can. It has to be me."
"Words that screw the world. But what can ya do."
Edward blankly looks up at Yohan's face, shadowed over him.
"Even if it's not my choice, if I'm on a runaway train, I gotta grab the controls."
"Wait, trains have levers, not steering wheels? Whatever."
His greed clears, and Edward finally sees Yohan properly.
An underdeveloped young beast. Yeah, that's right.
But a Behemoth cub in a whole other weight class.
And above all, his mindset—
Yohan's nonchalant words ring out.
"That's what a mage is."
—was that of a fully formed one.
Power drains from Edward's body, sustained by necromancy.
...He gets it now.
Mysteries draw mysteries.
He thought his magic lured Lemegeton to the camp.
It was the opposite.
...He'd been drawn here as fodder for Lemegeton's master.
Edward's eyes close. His breath stops.
The British mage.
Wanted necromancer Edward Coffin.
Dead. No revival possible.
"........"
I look down at the fully lifeless corpse, then turn away.
I targeted the heart clean from the start.
For him to last this long... impressive.
Body reinforcement? Or corpse manipulation applied?
Since he was a living mage, I chatted before the end. No real intel gained.
Eh, info's in the soul—post-mortem memory storage. I'll query that.
I pull a ziplock and tweezers from my bag, snag some of Edward's hair.
"Gyaah..."
I pet Grizzly's head, sulky from being ignored.
"Good job holding back. Eat."
"Gya~."
Grizzly chirps happily and devours the mage's corpse.
Crunch crunch~.
Listening to Grizzly chow down on the rooftop, I look up at the sky.
The oppressive gray mist clears.
Sunlight breaks through.
Another job done.
And with the mist gone, I spot several cars approaching the camp.
Special Task Force vehicles.
"Shit... Grizzly! Eat faster! Hurry!"
"Gya!? Gyagyagyagya!"
Grizzly scarfs it down to not disappoint its master.
From afar, Ellie and Sua's voices call from the Task Force cars.
"Yohan—!"
"Uncle! Don't go dying on us rashly!"