Chapter 180
Chapter 180
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: Forest of the Profane (5)
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Tess’s battle was also nearing its end.
Her light sabre couldn't break the One-Horned Demon’s shell, but it was perfectly suited for striking the gaps.
After stabbing the crevices in its armor to slow it down, Tess delivered the final blow by plunging her sabre into its single eye. With a twist of the blade, she brought the One-Horned Demon down at her feet.
Sensing the battle might drag on, Amy erected a Fire Wall around them.
Since they were mindless beasts, the best outcome would have been for them to flee, but contrary to expectations, one of them broke through the fiery barrier.
A bulked-up Harvest grabbed the One-Horned Demon’s torso and snapped its spine.
Arin was relieved to find that her Psionics worked on them. When she cast Mind Control on four of the One-Horned Demons, two of them began to tremble.
The two ensnared One-Horned Demons turned and began to stab their own kind.
With the monsters fighting each other, the group no longer needed to engage.
Rian and Tess, having finished off their opponents, sheathed their weapons and returned to Shirone’s side.
When Amy dispelled the Fire Wall, the bloody struggle of the One-Horned Demons was revealed. They were using their horns, legs, and even their snouts to pierce, knock down, and trample one another.
With the numbers even at two against two, the outcome depended on Arin’s skill in controlling the creatures. At first, she struggled to adapt to the unfamiliar beings, but she quickly grasped their characteristics and employed a divide-and-conquer strategy using their long-reaching horns.
The party watched the tragic sight of kin turning on each other, a chill running down their spines.
It was particularly shocking for Kanya and Lena. For a creature that follows the Law to defy it and kill its own kind… Today was a day of many strange occurrences in the Forest of the Profane.
Having won the battle, Arin let out a deep breath.
Mind Control itself continuously drained her mental energy, and making them fight caused the battle lust of the controlled creatures to flow into her, resulting in significant mental fatigue.
The One-Horned Demons under Arin’s control turned to look at Shirone’s group. Kanya and Lena flinched back, but the creatures merely assumed a submissive posture.
Arin wondered how to deal with the remaining One-Horned Demons.
The incredible success rate of her Psionic Mind Control was Arin’s greatest strength, but it was also a weakness. A high rate of emotional synchronization meant she perceived the other’s mind that much more vividly.
It was a fated agony for any mental mage who dealt with all the minds of the world.
As expected, Arin hesitated. Even if they were monsters, cruelly ending the lives of beings that had fought for her was a painful thing to do.
Tess, who prided herself on being second to none in soft-heartedness, voiced Arin’s feelings.
“Can’t we just take them with us? Having two of them around would be super reassuring, don’t you think?”
“No. We can’t waste mental energy on monsters of this level. Now that we know your Psionics work on them, Arin, you should focus your efforts there. You need to keep the mental channel open at all times.”
“Hmm, what about setting them free?”
“They’ll just come back to attack us. The worst-case scenario is they bring back another pack.”
“I see. Then I guess we have no choice but to kill them. Can’t we just make them fight each other to death?”
At the words of Tess, who prided herself on being second to none in soft-heartedness, Arin bit her lip.
This was a different situation from controlling a One-Horned Demon to kill another. Her emotional synchronization was already high, and now the feeling of camaraderie from having fought together only intensified her conflict.
Rian gripped the hilt of his greatsword and said.
“I’ll kill them, then. Just hold them still.”
Canis shook his head.
“No, this is something Arin has to do. If she wants to reach a higher level as a mental mage, she can’t remain weak forever.”
There was a limit to how far she could go by relying on her Psionic abilities. To reach her goal, a situation like this had to be a non-issue.
Canis wanted Arin to be by his side for a long time.
“Arin, you made a promise when you were taken to the Magic Association. Our master is no longer in this world. We have to get stronger. This is not a place where we can afford to show compassion.”
Arin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Canis was right. Would she rely on her Psionics, or would she master them? It was a difficult problem, but one she had to overcome.
Arin made the One-Horned Demons walk to the edge of the forest. Then, she made them pierce each other’s eyes with their horns.
The two One-Horned Demons collapsed, their faces pressed together.
They were still breathing, but they could no longer move, so there was no other way to inflict a fatal wound.
Arin forced a smile.
Watching her, Harvest recalled the time he had faced her with a glass tube between them.
Though some still considered her weak for a mage, compared to the time she feared everything in the world, she was now a completely different person.
“It’s both Arin’s strength and her weakness. She resonates easily with the minds of others, but because of that, she can’t be ruthless. Arcane always lamented that fact.”
“But she’s changing now. Arin will do just fine.”
Shirone, who felt Arin’s sorrow, was relieved to hear Harvest and Canis’s conversation. Though she had chosen a difficult path, she had companions who would be with her for life.
“Anyway…”
Shirone trailed off and turned around. His friends also turned their gazes to Kanya and Lena.
The two women flinched. In the eyes of the six, a wave of emotion, unbefitting the situation, was surging.
“It’s a person.”
“Yeah, a person. And they have a sword and shield.”
“Ah, a sword and shield. I was dying to see those. The thought of trying to talk to a giant who swings uprooted trees was terrifying.”
As the unintelligible words continued, Kanya stepped in front of her sister and shouted.
“What are you saying? Who in the world are you?”
Arin connected to the Spirit Zone and attempted to use telepathy. As Kanya’s thoughts were transmitted, Arin materialized them with her Psionics and relayed them to Shirone’s party.
Shirone spoke as cordially as possible.
“Uh, well, we came from another place…”
A sharp glare stopped Shirone in his tracks.
Kanya’s tension heightened as the words she couldn't understand suddenly became comprehensible. More importantly, their lip movements didn’t match the language.
“What did you do? Is this magic too? Are you Norr?”
“Norr? What’s that?”
Instead of answering, Kanya held out her right arm. A drone flew down from the sky. The beetle-like mechanical device landed on her wrist, then separated like a staircase and fitted itself into a gauntlet.
“Language decipher.”
A light glowed on the back of the gauntlet’s hand.
“You, say that again.”
“Say what?”
That was enough. Kanya bent her arm to check the gauntlet.
No data. Deciphering impossible.
After confirming the drone’s information, she drew her Arc. As she pulled the handle, a red dot appeared between Shirone’s eyebrows.
“Wh-what are you doing? All of a sudden.”
Having watched from the forest, Shirone knew just how powerful the Arc was.
He was bewildered to be in this situation without even knowing the reason. This was definitely not the reaction he expected when people encountered each other in a place full of monsters.
“Lena! These things aren’t Subjects! We have to fight!”
“B-but, sister… They saved our lives.”
“I get it now. Why the One-Horned Demons are here. They’re the ones who disturbed the Law of the forest.”
Hearing this, Lena could no longer stand still. Though reluctance was written all over her face, she still raised her Signa and Exd and took a fighting stance.
“You’d better be honest if you don’t want your head blown off by the Arc. What exactly did you do in this forest? Who are you?”
Even if they asked who he was, there was no way to explain. Frustrated, Shirone could only shout.
“We’re people too!”
“How can I believe that? You don’t speak the language of the Subjects! And you’re not heretics either!”
“But we can communicate, can’t we? Isn’t that enough?”
Kanya frowned. Strangely, Shirone’s words were persuasive.
“So let’s talk it out. If we can talk, we should be able to find a more peaceful solution than you pointing that strange weapon at me.”
“Peace? You dare speak of peace in the Forest of the Profane. You’re all really suspicious.”
“Forest of the Profane?”
“I think that’s the name of this forest.”
Silence fell after Arin’s explanation.
The standoff continued for a while.
If Shirone put his mind to it, subduing her wouldn't be a problem, but he absolutely wanted to avoid a fight.
She was human. They could communicate. If he could just get her to drop her hostility, he could learn more about this world.
At that moment, Lena looked up at the sky.
A drone patrolling the area projected a scene from 500 meters away onto her retina. A pack of over twenty One-Horned Demons was approaching.
“Sister, we’re in trouble. One-Horned Demons.”
Kanya finally snapped out of it. With the Law of the forest broken, staying here any longer was suicide.
These strangers of unknown origin didn’t seem to have any intention of fighting, either. She couldn’t be sure, but with the skill they showed in defeating the One-Horned Demons, they could have easily overpowered her.
“Follow me for now. Let’s get out of here first, then we’ll talk.”
Kanya returned the gauntlet on her arm to its beetle form and sent it flying into the sky. After confirming the One-Horned Demons’ location, she determined a direction and entered the forest.
Shirone’s party followed her without a word. Amy noted that they were moving away from the city.
4. Reversal of the Law (1)
Kanya led them into a valley that was a mixture of jungle and rocky terrain.
Cliffs blocked the view on all sides, leaving only the sky visible. Walking along the bottom of the V-shaped valley, Shirone could guess how long this world had existed.
They introduced themselves as they walked.
Kanya still couldn't trust them, but she seemed to have accepted that they had no intention of fighting, at least.
“This is Whirlpool Serpent Valley. The Law is different here, so we should be safe.”
“The most dangerous thing would be Shirone getting hit by that weird weapon of yours.”
Rian’s joke made Kanya’s eyes narrow. It seemed she was still bothered by what happened in the forest, but if anyone had a right to be furious, it was her.
Guessing that Shirone was the leader, she pointed a finger at him and asked.
“What is your real identity? Does coming from another world even make sense?”
“But it’s the truth. Whether you believe it or not, that’s the only way we can explain it. Now it’s your turn to explain. What kind of place is this world? And that giant we defeated earlier.”
“A giant? Did you just say a giant?”
“Yes, a giant.”
“So you’re saying you killed a giant!”
“No, we didn’t kill it. What happened was…”
Before Shirone could finish, Kanya grabbed him by the collar and yelled.
“How could you kill a giant, you idiot! Giants are guardians of the Law! So it was you. The One-Horned Demons went on a rampage because you killed a giant!”
Amy pushed Kanya’s hands away. She had been holding her temper to get information, but she couldn't tolerate someone treating her friend so roughly.
“He said he didn’t kill it! And the giant attacked us first!”
“Of course it did! We were the ones who broke the Law! The Forest of the Profane is a place humans aren’t supposed to enter!”
Shirone stepped between the two snarling women.
“Even if you say that, we have no idea what you’re talking about. Understand? We really are from another place.”
Kanya was stunned. Nothing Shirone said could convince her, yet she realized that was precisely why it had to be true.
“You mean… you’re really from another place?”
“I’ve been telling you that this whole time. Yes!”
“No, that’s not what I mean, uhm…”
Kanya’s expression turned serious.
It was just a story she heard as a child, but it definitely existed—the tale of humans from the earthly kingdoms under heaven’s rule.
They were descendants of the Subjects, but they were pitiful beings who couldn't feel the presence of God. That was why they couldn't enjoy eternal life and were said to flounder in the suffering of mortals until their lifespans ran out.