Demon Search Operation (3)
Meanwhile, rewinding time a bit to the other side of the mountain. Team A, searching some distance away from Deneb and Yustina, consisted of Konet and Gines, protected by Elfin. They walked onward as the sun dipped lower in the sky. Not even the sound of demon footsteps had reached them yet.
"Where could they be hiding?"
"The demons?"
"Yeah, I'm scared they might pop out suddenly."
"Scared? Typical mages."
Even in the midst of a real operation, Konet and Gines whispered and chattered away. Elfin debated stopping them but ultimately let it slide. There was no way demons would flee in terror from the babble of two kids, and besides, she was curious about what the youngsters talked about these days.
"You should do some strength training. Sitting around all day makes you timid."
"Hmph, girls don't look pretty with muscles like that."
"Nobody builds muscles to look pretty."
Elfin flinched slightly at Gines's offhand remark. She proudly flaunted her abs, after all. She thought anyone would admire them, but as a woman, were they actually a drawback? Her master had definitely said 500 years ago that he liked women with great figures...
"Men look better with muscles, though?"
"Pretty?"
"Handsome, I guess. Can I touch?"
What the hell are these brats up to? Elfin fought the urge to whip around and glare at Konet and Gines trailing behind her. Kids not even a century old, acting like grown-ups in front of an adult...
"Whoa, it's so hard."
"What do you even get out of touching it?"
"I'm curious. I don't have anything like this on me."
"I'm not curious about what you have that I don't."
"Not even curious about this spot?"
Elfin couldn't endure the conversation any longer. For a virgin like her, it was far too intense a topic. She'd made spiderweb jokes at Yustina's expense and the like—sexually charged teasing—but she herself had zero immunity to this stuff.
To make them notice and stop, Elfin shot Gines a curt command.
"What do you think you're doing? We're on a search right now. Focus."
"Ehehe, sorry, Professor."
"Cat beastkin in heat or something? Konet's uncomfortable, so handle that alone from now on."
"I-It's not like that..."
Only then did Gines and Konet quiet down, allowing Elfin to focus solely on the search. But the sudden silence sent her thoughts drifting elsewhere. Was Deneb really safe? The anxiety gnawed at her.
Nothing special should happen.
According to imperial intelligence, the demons Elfin was pursuing weren't particularly dangerous. There had been one skirmish on their way to Denebergen Academy's back mountain, but no soldiers suffered serious injuries.
The only oddity was how demons struggling to cross imperial walls from the Demon Realm had penetrated this deep.
The problem is we don't know how.
Elfin vaguely suspected the demon siblings hid their presence with special tools. The effect lasted too long for mere magic.
The issue was the empire had no intel on such magitech. Stealth tech that guaranteed undetectability? Unheard of.
Whatever. Capture and interrogate.
The operation's goal was capture over kill. First objective: leave no trace of demons reaching this far, avoiding any controversy. As mentioned, the siblings had clashed once with guards en route, but imperial shadows had already cleaned it up. Those guards probably didn't even remember the encounter, let alone the fight.
In other words, only a handful of high officials and this special class knew of the siblings' existence.
Just wipe the kids' memories after it's done.
Second objective: uncover their backers. Guard testimony noted both demons wore magitech gear. Poor Demon Realm demons with high-end magitech? Unthinkable.
There has to be a sponsor.
Like someone supplying magitech in exchange for targeting something at Denebergen Academy. Maybe tied to motives against the school.
If backers existed and targeted the academy, though...
This deployment drags on. But hey, could be a win?
Her professor disguise would extend until resolution. Less time for resurrection flowers and the Flower Garden, but oddly, Elfin didn't mind much. With Dane's reincarnation found—reluctant as she was to admit it—keeping him close seemed safest. She couldn't leave him alone with Yustina.
Deneb needed help from a normal person like her, Elfin firmly believed.
Yustina's dangerous, in every way.
She ran the academy well as chairwoman and caused no major issues. But Elfin was convinced Yustina plotted eccentric schemes beyond imagination, bound to cause disaster someday. Her presence was one reason the imperial family monitored the academy.
"...What's that?"
"Yeah, Professor. The sky looks weird."
"What's got you spooked?"
Speak of the dragoness, as they say. A massive magic circle—clearly Yustina's—blanketed the sky. Something happened, probably Deneb's doing. Yustina was student-focused normally, but Dane-related matters drove her half-mad.
"Haa."
Elfin sighed, gripping her sword. Head to Yustina or Deneb? Deneb for root cause, Yustina for immediate fire.
But she had little time to ponder.
"Kekekekek!"
Under the setting sun, a massive shadow engulfed the ground—precisely where Elfin, Gines, and Konet stood.
Elfin shoved Gines aside and leaped back with Konet.
Thud!
"F-Found us? Kekekekek!"
A grotesque laugh, deathly pale skin. Contrasting black hair and dark cloak. The colorful giant's arrival registered instantly for all present.
"The demon brother, huh. Didn't expect you to show yourself."
"Name's Hans. Saw you hunting, kekekekek!"
"I see. I'm Elfin, new professor at Denebergen Academy."
Elfin coolly flashed her fake ID.
"Got intel on you, Hans. Super strength fitting that bulk, right?"
Shing!
She drew her sword, aiming at the demon brute.
"Let's see that strength, then."
Hans's bloodshot eyes gleamed menacingly.
Konet drew his sword in guard stance, but Gines panicked, fidgeting like tap-dancing. At least Hans ignored them.
Up close, Elfin saw: tough for kids, cumbersome to fight while protecting them.
Hmm.
She eyed Hans's cloaked bulk, noting bizarre bulges. Recognizing them, she smirked.
"Arm-wrestling a junkie? Kinda funny."
"Watch your mouth, elf bitch. Not junkie—doping."
"Same difference. Magitech overdose... You'll die in a year without me touching you. Why bother?"
"Kek, kekekekek! Why tell you? Huh?"
Elfin nodded.
"Fair point."
Instantly, blue blood and a thick chunk of flesh sprayed into the air.
"...Huh?"
A genius's sword skips process, leaves only result.
Hans gasped, staring at his severed arm—formerly on his shoulder—flying bloodied through the sky. No clue when it happened; he hadn't even registered Elfin's lunge. To him, this attack...
Fuck, what kind of monster is she?
It thoroughly doused his madness.
"Graaaaaah!"
But Hans reacted swiftly. No retrieving the arm. Instead of fear or retreat, he scuttled sideways like a crab, grabbing the nearest tree.
Crack!
His fingers sank into solid wood. Snap! The trunk uprooted.
Magitech-enhanced muscle power, as Elfin noted.
Hans hurled the massive log—five times a man's height—at her without hesitation.
"Konet! Take Gines and evade!"
Elfin yelled to evacuate the students, thrusting her sword straight.
The tree flew straight at her. Too late to dodge—one option.
Whoosh!
Her blade glowed red. She slashed down in a concise, heavy vertical cut, cleaving the thick trunk in two and hurling it aside.
Thud!
"Gaaaaah!"
But the tree was a feint. Dust from its fall revealed a chariot barreling forth: Hans himself. Magitech bulk four times Elfin's size filled her vision.
Konet, watching, squeezed his eyes shut—even Elfin would take heavy damage from a direct ramming.
Crunch!
What followed exceeded his imagination.
Hans, charging at Elfin, froze rigid as stone. No petrification or freeze magic—just her free hand grabbing his throat and slamming him down.
The impact cratered the ground around them, shallow and wide.
"Guh... guhuk...!"
"Told you—strength contest."
Konet couldn't believe it. A slender elf pinning a hulking monster by the collar, unmoving.
Elfin shook her head irritably, brushing sweat-matted golden hair from her forehead, blew a breath, and raised her elbow to smash his skull.
Or tried to.
"...What?"
She spotted something impossible: Hans's right arm, just severed, regenerating.
But that wouldn't stop her. Obvious illegal magitech doping; regen drugs were par for the course.
The shock: three arms now.
Why is this moving?
The first right arm, fully severed and fallen, crawled back on its own, climbing her body like it had a mind.
Detached limbs moving independently? Unheard of. High skeletons sometimes did, but...
That's skeletons.
This was living undead. Elfin grimaced, denying the truth—her black magic talent surging in her blood.
Anyway, dire situation. The severed arm clung to her; Hans's left grabbed it. Arms reconnecting reversed her hold—she was now gripped by Hans.
The severed arm slithered up to her sword, clamping the blade.
Snap!
Blood dripped from Hans's hand, but he snapped the blade without giving her time.
"Damn it."
Elfin dropped the hilt, retreating steps. Broken sword—useless now. Against self-moving parts, slashing was pointless.
She glared at Hans's writhing, cloakless flesh-pile rising.
Yeah, better mince it immobile...
"Konet."
"Yes?"
"Toss me the axe!"
Suddenly called, Konet hurled it without hesitation. Catching it mid-air, Elfin spat bloody saliva.
"Fuck, thought no sword meant easy?"
Throat-crushed and gasping anew, Hans blinked wildly—then froze. Elfin was overhead, axe raised, having leaped atop him.
"You fucking bitch! Come down and fight fair!"
His severed arm lunged to shield his head, but Elfin targeted elsewhere. No mercy—she halved the incoming arm, mincing fingers and stump unrecognizable.
"Moron?"
"Ke, keeeeeek!"
"Fair with a doper? What fair?"
Each axe swing sprayed blue blood and chunks. Elfin was no poised professor or stealthy shadow captain—just a mad butcher dismembering meat.
Call it a berserker sparing no body. Deneb's training unearthed her warrior core, but to Konet and Gines...
"Konet, wh-what is that?"
"...No idea."
Konet recalled Deneb's sparring ferocity. Elfin mirrored it, but... different. Not professor-appropriate, but...
"Like a crazy bitch..."
Gines voiced his hesitation. Facing Elfin's laugh—louder than Hans's screams—anyone might.
But they knew half the story. Without this stress relief, Elfin would've snapped long ago.
She does look insane...
Even now, little difference to onlookers.
Under the sky's white magic circle, Elfin confirmed Hans immobile yet breathing, cast binding magic. More lump than demon, he couldn't resist.
Sweat-drenched, she swept back her bangs, handing the filthy axe to Konet.
"You two head down. I'm going to Yuz."
Gazing skyward, she muttered:
"Time left—run now, you might live."
"...Human?"
I gritted my teeth, glaring at the black silhouette. Intruders at the academy were the demon siblings. Demons can't become human, so third party... or human allied with them.
But that collar?
Witnessing the magitech brainwashing collar changed things. This human was puppeted by the demons.
Headache for me.
"Can't kill, damn it."
Live capture preferred for demons too—interrogation or whatever. But this human mage outclassed the siblings I'd expected.
Fighting to capture? I'd die.
But magitech collar meant innocent human toyed by demons.
"Young master...! That cloak's magitech! Forms a barrier hiding our fight from nearby."
"Thanks, Charlotte! Means we handle it ourselves!"
Not necessarily kill. Like the serpent beast's collar—slash with sword aura, dash in, sever it, free the mage.
"Name before fight? Mage like you has honor, right?"
"...I'm a witch."
Her voice—thick, raspy—tilted my head. Before feminine, it evoked the gaunt body glimpsed in her cloak. Hypothesis: old woman... grandma?
Elder mages powerful—common knowledge. How'd demons snag her?
Maybe an academy professor I didn't know.
But those magitech wrappings...
I knew little of magitech. Charlotte spotted the barrier instantly—her expertise outshone mine.
Collar aside, cloak first—urgent.
Enables Elfin and Yustina's aid. Wanted solo, but admitted my limits against this foe.
Grinding teeth, I tightened my sword grip, kicked off, charging the mumbling pitiful crone to free her.
"I'm a witch... forest witch... builds gingerbread house, devours innocent children... evil witch..."
Even as I closed in, she chanted "witch" endlessly. No incantation—sharp icicles formed mid-air.
Five or six tracked my path precisely. Hit meant lethal; graze caused necrosis.
I focused, deflecting some, shadow-stepping others, inching—yet swiftly—closer.
Slice!
Golden sword aura shredded the cloak's hem but didn't fully disable it.
So close!
Tsking regret, I twisted for follow-up. But the old witch billowed her cloak, stepping back, muttering nonsense:
"...Save the bad witch."