The Blessing's Burden
You have won the Lunaria Blessing Lottery. (12)
I approached the trembling Raysa while glancing sideways at Elaine. The battle had also entered a lull, likely due to the massive explosion that had just occurred. Surprisingly, the beastmen had not fled. Even after witnessing magic of such overwhelming destructive power, their eyes still gleamed with murderous intent. They looked ready to tear into Elaine the moment she showed the slightest opening. Yet she stood tall and unwavering, shielding Raysa like an iron fortress while facing their killing intent head-on. Several beastmen already lay sprawled at her feet, weapons dropped from their hands—clear evidence of the Hexley Vision Swordsmanship's reputation for peerless defense. Thanks to her, I could focus on Raysa without worry. If I didn't steady her mind, things could turn disastrous.
"Raysa. How are you feeling right now?"
Her gaze, which had been fixed on the burning corpses as if she might burst into tears at any moment, shifted toward me. Upon seeing me, she finally broke down and sobbed.
"I'm scared... I feel like I've committed an enormous sin. But... power keeps surging endlessly from inside my body. It feels like I could do anything..."
With one hand loosely gripping the wooden sword, I raised the other and gently wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks with my fingers. Then, as gently as possible, I offered words of comfort.
"That feeling is proof that you've truly become a mage. Congratulations, Raysa. From now on, you're a real mage whom no one can ignore."
"Ah... I'm a mage?"
With an expression of utter confusion, tears still flowing, she looked out at the horrific scene she had created—the burning corpses, the scattered building debris, the overwhelming traces of destruction.
"This is... magic..."
Light gradually seeped into her eyes, once filled with confusion. For a mage living in the world of King's Crown, such destruction was practically an everyday occurrence. Especially for Raysa, who had received the Great Blessing of the Goddess Lunaria, a fate awaited her that would require taking countless lives in the future. It might sound heartless, but it would be problematic if her mind crumbled from mere slaughter like this. Compared to the Demon King and his demonic army that would descend upon the Hamaltia continent in a dozen years, the thugs burning before us were nothing. She... had to grow accustomed to killing. After all, this "alleyway hunt" had begun precisely for that purpose.
"How ridiculous. You murderous bastards!"
A beastman holding a wooden club in one hand shouted at us. Judging by the shape of his ears and tail, he appeared to be a wolf beastman. With a prosthetic iron arm on his left wrist and severe scratch marks around his neck, he seemed to be a slave who had been dragged here from the Holy Land. "You Lu Empire nobles are always like this! So many people have died, and what? Congratulations??"
"The Sun God will never forgive you!!"
Seeing a considerable number of wolf beastmen armed with farming tools like pitchforks and flails, it seemed a large group of slaves captured from the Holy Land had successfully escaped and hidden in the alleys near the Academy.
"Ugh..."
Raysa shrank back in fear at the beastmen's ferocious aura as they spewed curses with bloodshot eyes. Thinking this wouldn't do, I stepped forward in front of her and stood beside Elaine. This positioned Raysa as if she were hidden behind our backs.
"It looks like you've escaped from somewhere as slaves. I'll pretend I didn't see you, so back off while I'm still being nice."
Even after my warning, the beastmen didn't budge. Instead, they only intensified their murderous aura and poured out more curses.
"Why are we slaves?! You people captured us on a whim!!"
"Don't make me laugh!!! The 'Goddess's slaves' are you Lu Empire bastards!!!"
"The scriptures say that killing the Goddess's slaves will get you into heaven! So don't be scared and kill those nobles!!!"
The beastmen, who firmly believed in the Sun God's scripture—"Bel Sola does not hesitate to swing her sword at her enemies. If anyone dies fighting Bel Sola's enemies, the God will not turn away their souls and will gladly open the gates of heaven"—charged at us without hesitation, swinging their weapons like drug addicts who knew no fear.
"These damned bastards! Do you really believe that nonsense the rulers twisted to suit themselves?!"
I shouted while forcefully deflecting a pitchfork thrust at me, but my cries fell on deaf ears to the fanatics who had already lost their reason.
"It's no use, Leon."
Elaine spoke calmly while diligently swinging her wooden sword to keep the beastmen at bay.
"They no longer have any attachment to life. Death is their only salvation..."
She skillfully entangled an incoming club with her sword, disrupting its trajectory, then without hesitation struck the forehead of the off-balance wolf beastman. Crack— The beastman's skull shattered, and he collapsed headfirst into the ground. Creating a brief opening, Elaine began drawing up her mana.
"!?"
"Kiiing!?? Whimper!!!"
"Hiiik!!"
The space around her began to visibly warp as mana rapidly concentrated, and she unleashed something similar to what Professor Giphotes had demonstrated yesterday, using her entire body. Numerous beastmen, instinctively sensing fear from her mana manipulation, tucked their tails between their legs, flattened their ears, and backed away.
"The Sun God watches over us!!!"
Unable to stand by as his allies' morale plummeted, a wolf beastman wearing a prosthetic on his left hand charged at Elaine with his fur standing on end. Using the beastmen's characteristic elastic leg strength, he leaped higher than his own height, wrapped mana around the wooden club in his right hand, and swung it down with all his might toward Elaine's crown. Maintaining her middle stance, she twisted her arms slightly upward, catching the blow on the flat of her wooden sword to protect her head. Thwack!!! The materialized mana collided with mana in midair, creating an enormous noise in all directions... Grgrgrk! Elaine deliberately deflected the wolf beastman's club to the side, forcibly changing its direction. As a result, he landed on the ground from midair and swung his club in the wrong direction, creating a momentary opening—which she did not miss. Crack!! The wooden sword, swung through the air, completely shattered the wolf beastman's head. It was a different kind of brutality from what Raysa had shown with her magic earlier. Brain matter splattered in all directions. Not a single drop stained Elaine's body, which was enveloped in mana. A slightly purplish-black mana surrounded her entire body like the protective aura often mentioned in martial arts novels.
"...Ugh... These cursed bastards!!"
"Kyaaak!! Let's die together!!!"
Even as they trembled with fear, the fanatics did not flee to the end. As if the alleyway behind them was a cliff or seawater, they charged at us like soldiers who had burned their bridges, down to the very last one. Elaine and I silently dealt with them. I struck down a flail swung at my head with my mana-wrapped wooden sword, driving it into the ground with force. Thud!! The tip of the flail collided with the floor, returning considerable recoil to its owner. The wolf beastman who had aimed for my head screamed from the impact.
"Kuaaak!!"
Despite screaming in pain, he didn't let go of the flail. So I thrust the tip of my mana-wrapped wooden sword into the wolf beastman's neck bone, ensuring he wouldn't scream anymore. Gurgle! He rolled his eyes back from the shock to his neck and collapsed backward onto the ground.
"Die!!!"
Without a moment to catch my breath, a small-framed wolf beastman gripped a pitchfork with both hands and thrust it toward my stomach. I deflected it upward as if grazing the ground with my sword, sending the pitchfork past the empty space above my left shoulder.
"Kyaaak!!"
Surprisingly, as if this had been his intention from the start, the small wolf beastman leaped toward my nape, trying to bite me with his sharp teeth. It was an unconventional attack that might have caught me off guard if Leon had lacked real combat experience. From the upward slash position, I wrapped mana around my right hand and guarded against the small wolf beastman's biting attack with my fist, just as the knuckled bastard had done to me earlier. Crunch!! Crunch!!! I felt the sensation of his characteristic sharp wolf fangs madly chewing on my mana-wrapped hand. While blocking the small wolf beastman with my right hand, I brought down the grip end of the wooden sword in my left hand mercilessly onto his crown. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!! With three consecutive strikes to the crown, the small wolf beastman eventually bit his tongue, collapsed to the ground convulsing, and died.
Huff— Inhale— Huff— Sweating profusely, my shoulders heaving with each breath, I quickly surveyed my surroundings... The remaining fanatics had all been killed or gravely injured by Elaine and were crawling on the ground. Tonight's alleyway hunt was also our victory.