Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Zahav: Clear, Then Cloudy (3)
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"R-Run, everyone! It's a monster!"
"I see...! So that's why the lord insisted on repairing the walls, even if it meant forced labor!"
"What!? We had no idea..."
No, damn it.
A misunderstanding was spreading in real time, but unfortunately, there was no leeway to correct it.
It was Brent, twisted and swollen to the point where his original form was unrecognizable except for his face.
The guy was rampaging while emanating a vicious black mana.
[No exits permitted. All actors must remain on stage until the curtain falls.]
Tentacles, like arms torn into several strands, pounded the ground. The painstakingly leveled floor caved in, and the piled-up building materials shattered.
These were expensive high-grade materials—so costly that even Jevella had let out a rare lament—and they were crumbling in an instant.
Of course, had there been people in that spot, they would've burst apart just the same.
Gathering them right in front of me to discuss the labor issue had been a stroke of luck amid the misfortune.
…No, but still, how was I supposed to bring up the fact that everything I'd bragged about in front of Jevella had gotten totally smashed?
"Anyway, black mages are just useless."
Though he was emanating black mana everywhere, since he wasn't in his right mind and his body was twisted, Brent probably wasn't actually a black mage.
He'd likely been tricked by some method or stupidly sold himself out—either way, he'd been used.
Of course, nothing changed. As a former test subject myself, I knew full well: failed experiments... could only be stopped by death.
Swallowing my bone-deep loathing for black mages, I opened my mouth.
"Yuria. Get the territory folk to safety, and on your way, bring the knights and the resident priests too."
"O-Okay!"
Brent had long lost his reason, spewing curses at House Zahav while smashing whatever was right in front of him instead of me.
Thanks to that, the territory folk managed to escape unharmed, and just as Yuria was about to leave the area last.
A black mana incomparable to what Brent emanated— no, one of the strongest I'd ever faced among black mages—surged up from the ground.
[Indeed. O our nemesis, impudent one who burned the cradle. The sword of vengeance honed by pilgrims shall pierce thy heart.]
The characteristic intense vibration of mana deploying accompanied a barrier enclosing the surrounding area in a rectangular form.
Yuria's body, just about to slip out, was bounced back inside.
"Kyaa! W-What's this?!"
"What else? Proof that the idiot black mage is digging his own grave."
It was the same barrier I'd seen when we'd fallen into the black mages' trap back in Calypso Territory.
A type of magic that vastly reinforced the barrier by imposing certain restrictions.
Whether because it wasn't pure black magic, or because it wasn't directly applied to me, even I—with my black magic resistance—couldn't break it by force.
…No, with my current aura training, maybe I could, but it'd definitely take a long while. However.
"Don't worry. No need to break it anyway."
"What's that supposed to mean, big bro? Some half-baked plan?"
"It's probably set to open once one of us is totally dead."
[The scabbard need not match the sword's excellence, but too great a lack is troubling. Fortunately, the blinder the emotion, the more fiercely it burns.]
"W-What's that mean, big bro? I learned at the academy that black mages use weird speech patterns, but never how to translate it..."
"Roughly, 'we're here for revenge 'cause you beat us up'... Hold up. Yuria, what's wrong?"
"Huh?"
She had gripped her greatsword ready to draw at any moment, but Yuria's entire body had been trembling non-stop since earlier.
As if swallowed by fear.
…I had a guess.
I was used to it, but black mana fundamentally had the property of stimulating primal human fear.
For her first real combat against a high-rank black mage and his toy, it was a fully understandable reaction.
"If you can't move, just rest there for a bit. I'll finish it quick."
As aura began circulating in earnest, heat originating from my heart enveloped my whole body.
Vitality surged alongside the anger I'd consciously suppressed until now, now boiling over.
Yeah. I hadn't even finished translating the documents from the dungeon yet, and here he'd come on his own.
I ought to be thrilled. A big shot rare even in Calypso Territory had walked right into my lap.
And I wasn't wasting this precious time either.
Still cursing House Zahav without even looking this way, Brent continued smashing his surroundings.
Hiding amid that racket, a black mage making his presence and voice known, though invisible to the eye.
I'd pinpointed his location and gotten my answers... The black mage was inside the bloated Brent.
First, tear Brent to shreds, then beat the hiding black mage to death.
Grinning at my perfect plan, I was about to kick off the ground when.
In that short time, Yuria had shaken off her fear with steady movements, drawing her greatsword and resting it on her shoulder.
"...I'm good now. I can fight too, so I'll back you up, big bro. Just."
"Just?"
"That sword. Be careful with it."
Her pale purple eyes, gleaming fiercely like a beast on the hunt, locked onto the matte black sword that absorbed the light.
Indeed. This was a real Zahav, not some fake like me.
Mastering her emotions in an instant, identifying threats, acting on priorities.
This was top-tier combat talent, no doubt.
I chuckled and nodded.
"Planned on it from the start."
Why would a black magic lump like him carry around such a plain-looking sword so preciously?
Especially since he knew who I was, going so far as to set up this stage where no one could leave until someone died?
He'd definitely prepared some trump card weapon.
Looking utterly ordinary except for not reflecting light was surely a ploy to deceive the senses.
As I nodded inwardly, Yuria muttered softly.
"...Well, yeah. With that blatantly ominous aura, no way to miss it."
"?"
Too focused on the enemy ahead to catch it properly, but probably nothing important.
I concentrated my mind into my clenched fist and kicked off the ground.
BOOM!
The ground shattered, unable to withstand the full-force kick. Yuria followed half a beat behind.
Brent's mutated colossal body, covered in tumors and tentacles, finally noticed us amid its uncontrollable frenzy and turned our way.
His barely intact face streamed thick black-red bloody tears, and as if all color had drained into them, his pupils were faded to gray.
-Zahav...!! There you are!!!
"Ha! I was wondering why you ignored us to rampage alone. Blind as a bat, huh?"
[Foolish thing. For apotheosis, forget thy former flesh and embrace the new body thou hast donned.]
Brent charged with thudding steps. I dodged his brutishly swung sword from afar and dove for his side to drive in a punch, but.
Crack.
Bony hands erupted from the ground, interlocking fingers to form a solid barrier at my feet.
Of course, not enough to matter. Just a minor hindrance.
BOOM!
A hard kick shattered them into fragments.
The scattered sharp shards dug into Brent's lower body like shotgun pellets.
His bulked-up frame and thickened legs prevented major damage... but the pain seemed considerable.
-GRAAAAAH!!
Brent let out a monstrous roar, his body twisting grotesquely. His arm wrenched unnaturally, as if an extra joint had sprouted on his shoulder.
Not the sword arm. That sword was still stabbed into the ground.
A tentacle—like a human arm split vertically—whipped toward me, empty-handed.
Perhaps delayed by kicking the bone barricade. Too late to dodge.
Then block it.
"Hup...!"
I concentrated aura into one arm. Eerie patterns drew across my skin amid rising heat. Trusting it, I swung at the tentacle cluster.
Splat!
A dull sound as the tentacles wrapped my arm and struck. Coated in sticky curses, spewing highly acidic mucus from the surface.
"This much is nothing."
The curses bounced off without piercing my black magic resistance, and most of the acid failed to breach the aura, merely singeing my skin slightly.
Sizzle.
Just a bit of smoke; it didn't even overcome my regeneration, so my arm was fine.
On the contrary, I gripped the wrapped tentacles tight and shouted.
"Now!"
"Haaah!"
Yuria's greatsword cleaved the tentacle cluster from the center.
Slash!
-GRAAAAH! My arm! Another arm...!!
[Foolish one. For thy transcendence, forget the pains of the old shell.]
His mind crumbling, vulnerable to pain—Brent nearly convulsed from the severed arm.
But a few words from the black mage made him forget the pain instantly, glaring at us again.
"Tch."
Supporting intermittently with black magic while manually controlling Brent, huh.
Boosting power via black magic, offsetting side effects by the mage himself bearing the risk.
His raw strength was probably around an Orc Warlord's level, maybe a bit more.
Considering black magic's traits, stronger than an Orc Warlord for most people.
But bad matchup for me. No inexplicable backup like in the dungeon before... but I could whittle him down steadily enough.
"Yuria! Fall back!"
"Got it!"
Having gotten a feel for it, I planned to go on the full offensive and created distance.
Wary of the matte black sword he should've recovered by now, I glanced at Brent's right tentacle cluster, but.
"Huh?"
The sword that should definitely have been gripped wasn't there.
The moment I noticed something off, the severed tentacles parted, and the acid-soaked sword shot forth like an arrow.
...Not at me. At Yuria.
-Zahav!! Die!! Zahav!!
[Surely aimed at the nemesis... No, an unforeseen tragedy is fine too. Show us the finale of one soul.]
Hearing the puzzled black mage's voice in one ear and letting it flow out the other, I kicked off toward Yuria.
BANG!
The distance closed rapidly. But a bit too late.
Yuria deliberately limited aura invested in her body to wield the greatsword skillfully.
Especially mid-recovery from her swing, twisting away.
Impossible for her to block or dodge on her own.
...Then I'd take it instead.
Not without anxiety. But I trusted. My resistance earned through stubborn survival, the effort poured into aura training.
Thud.
I shoved Yuria—who had squeezed her eyes shut as the swordtip reached her nose—away.
"Eh...?"
Flashing a grin at Yuria, who blankly opened her eyes with a dumb voice, I channeled aura into my fist to smack the sword away, but.
Shlick.
For some reason, my fist passed right through, and the blade plunged into my heart.
The impact sent me tumbling backward. And.
[Hahahahaha! At last! At last, our mortal foe draws his final breath! Thou who devoured fear, now tremble in it thyself! Realize thou art but a mere mortal!]
"N-No! Big bro! Why me... I should've taken the weak hit...!"
Hearing the black mage's mad laughter and Yuria's scream of guilt, I blankly gazed at the blackened sky.
...Doesn't hurt?
I was completely fine.