Chapter 23
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 23
The voice from beside him was utterly nonchalant. Even in the middle of the collapsing building, Melju didn't have a single scratch. The barrier enveloping her slowly dissipated into the air. Swallow glared resentfully at Melju—the only one who had thought to cast a protective spell on herself—and sneered.
"Wow, look at you, keeping all the good stuff for yourself."
"Ah!"
Melju blinked as if just now noticing him. His hair was so caked in thick stone dust that it had turned stark white, making him look like he had aged decades in an instant.
"You were here as well, Sir Swald!"
I should have just eaten her when we first met.
As he grumbled internally, another chunk of the collapsed ceiling slammed down on his head. Shoving the debris away, he popped his head out and spat a mouthful of dust.
"Sir Swald, you look absolutely pitiful."
"I just want to go home and rest..."
"...I didn't know you could sound so pathetic."
What a pain. Nothing was going his way. Being this battered was bad enough, but being surrounded like this was even worse.
"Sigh."
Muttering that things were getting complicated, Swallow let out a yawn and turned to Melju.
"Melju, you remember the way to that 'Hub' place, right?"
"Huh? Sir Swald, why so suddenly...? Ah, of course. I remember it perfectly."
"Then go secure it. Humans will be swarming the place soon. Use brainwashing or whatever it takes to make sure I can still use it, even if I'm a bit late. Oh, and if possible, set it up so I can head straight to Hastin the moment I arrive."
"...Understood. But Sir Swald, you've been looking for Hastin for a while now. Which region is that village in? I'll need to know the general direction to handle this quickly."
"It's far to the west of Riaze. You can find the Primordial Core, right?"
"Of course! As We always say, Our favorite dungeon is the Primordial..."
"It's the closest village to it."
"..."
Flustered, Melju fell silent. She hung her head, her face flushed, and let out a soft groan, clearly embarrassed that her shallow knowledge had been exposed.
"Actually, We have only learned of the Primordial Core through books..."
"Explanations later."
"U-Understood."
Nodding, Melju stole a glance at Swallow. Whether out of consideration or sheer indifference, he was just scratching the back of his head with a blank expression.
Sir Swald should be fine on his own. After seeing what happened earlier, I'm not too worried about him. Can I trust him? I must.
Then, We must make sure not to be a burden either.
"We shall take Our responsibility and secure it."
"Good. I'll follow you shortly."
Swallow toyed with the Guillotine's Tooth tucked at his waist. A moment later, Melju finished casting her teleportation magic and vanished. Only then did he let a faint smile grace his lips as he stepped over the building's debris and slowly walked forward.
He climbed the highest pile of rubble, and from the peak of the collapsed building, the entirety of Survey Rose spread out before him.
Unfortunately, his vision was also filled with things he had no desire to see.
How many are there?
A swordsman in light leather armor, wielding a black Zweihander. An assault knight in eye-catching, ornate armor, carrying a halberd twice the size of a grown man on his shoulder. A magic archer trailed by the afterimage of a giant spirit instead of a shadow. A shield-bearer holding a massive shield made of some unknown red-and-green mineral. A priest who, despite having the most innocent face, glared at Swallow with the fiercest eyes. Swallow folded his fingers one by one, then sighed and shook out his wrist.
He didn't have enough fingers to count them all. A little over twenty, maybe? Not a huge number, but their flashy gear made them seem like a much larger force.
Their auras alone screamed of elites who wouldn't flinch even if facing a monster horde in a high-level dungeon.
Swallow raised an eyebrow. The swordsman at the front pointed the tip of his blade at him.
"We are the Languer Blue Crane Subjugation Squad of the Languer Family, one of the Nine Pillars of the Empire. I, Subjugation Squad Captain Kasper, demand to know: Who are you?"
"Everything's fine, but that last line sounds like a third-rate villain..."
As expected. They were the private soldiers of the family running the auction house.
Even before entering, he had noticed them. The auras emanating from the buildings around the auction house were abnormally strong, even for the imperial capital. They were blatantly radiating their presence, as if trying to intimidate everyone around them.
Fine, interesting. This means you have no intention of letting me go easily.
Swallow's smirk was his only answer. Feeling every gaze lock onto him, he slowly opened his mouth.
"Who am I, you ask? I suppose it has to be this."
Everyone tensed, hanging on his every word.
"Your enemy."
"———Annihilate him."
That was the end of the conversation.
The assault knight charged first. Despite his full plate armor, he moved as lightly as a feather. He sprinted forward, let out a battle cry, and used the debris of the collapsed building as a stepping stone to leap high into the air. Red, flame-like smoke coiled around the sharp blade of his halberd.
Soaring toward Swallow, the knight swung his weapon with all his might.
Squelch! The sound of piercing flesh was followed by the cold bite of the blade against Swallow's neck.
"Huh?"
The sound escaped the knight's lips unconsciously. It was a devastating blow, powerful enough to cleave an ogre in two—one of the strongest attacks in the entire Languer Blue Crane Subjugation Squad.
And it hadn't even severed his neck.
A tremor ran down the halberd's shaft. He had delivered only a single attack, yet an unknown terror threatened to overwhelm him. Judging by the sound and sensation, he had only managed to cut through muscle. His body shook from the recoil. Was it bone that his halberd couldn't cut? Or was it something else entirely?
The knight looked up at the monster. The creature before him was smiling. No—he was laughing, a clear expression of pure pleasure. The monster was laughing.
"Didn't you say you were going to annihilate me?"
"Aaaaaaaah!"
The knight let out a wild scream, as if trying to shake off his fear. Responding to the desperate cry, the red smoke wrapped around his halberd burst into light.
Intermediate Magic, <Flame Mana Explosion>.
A vast amount of mana gathered on the blade. The weapon seemed to disintegrate, splintering in all directions from the tip as a brilliant light erupted from within.
A red whirlwind of an explosion enveloped them both. The ground shook. A storm as massive as the auction house's collapse raged between them. A huge cloud of smoke billowed out, only to disperse in an instant, as if frozen time had suddenly resumed.
Two figures remained—one human, and one in the shape of a human. They stood in the exact same posture as before, but now the knight was bleeding from every pore, while the man in human form didn't have a single scratch on him.
"...How."
One last, brief word.
With a half-hearted swing of Swallow's hand, the knight's head was severed from his body. It clattered against the floor, rolling over and over until it stopped at the feet of the lead swordsman.
"One."
The monster, Swallow, muttered.
And then.
A dagger flashed toward the back of Swallow's neck, seizing the opening.
"Two."
Slash. Another head soon rolled across the floor.
*
Two heads lay on the cold floor.
Subjugation Squad Captain Kasper, standing at the forefront, silently raised his right hand. The squad members, who had been waiting for his orders, stepped back and fell into formation.
Kasper gritted his teeth. The cut on the head at his feet was clean, as if made by a razor-sharp blade, yet the enemy was empty-handed. He wasn't holding a single weapon. The movement had been too fast for the naked eye to follow, but he had clearly struck with his bare hands.
"..."
The Languer Blue Crane Subjugation Squad was considered one of the most elite forces in the Empire. Yet this enemy had not only taken a blow praised for having the strongest destructive power among them without a scratch, but he had also severed a head with a simple swing of his hand. He had easily noticed a surprise attack an ordinary person wouldn't have even sensed. Besides, for a knight to use a mana explosion at point-blank range meant he was prepared to die.
"You monster... What are you...?"
"I told you. I'm your enemy."
The corners of the monster's mouth curled up. He was surely smiling to destroy their morale. Even though Kasper knew this, he couldn't shake his confusion. Was that smile genuine, or was it an act? His experience gave him no answer. If he wasn't human, then what was he? The only thing that came to mind was a dragon.
"...A dragon?"
"Huh? Have you seen one?"
The reply was laced with annoyance. Kasper snapped his mouth shut, surprised he'd gotten a response at all. No, it couldn't be a dragon. The massive dragon he had faced during Hero Bern's subjugation of the forbidden land had acted nothing like this. As a perfect existence, it had been arrogant and haughty, its authority embedded in every gesture and word. The monster before him, at least, didn't exude that same sense of authority.
Besides, even that proud lizard wasn't this strong.
After all, the mana explosion—a technique proven to pierce even a dragon's scales—had no effect.
No, that's not what's important.
Ignoring the monster, who was now approaching with terrifying leisure, Kasper glanced back at his squad. Most of the remaining members were at a loss.
"Captain, your orders..."
Two deaths had shattered the morale of twenty elite soldiers.
It wasn't the deaths themselves that were the problem, but the fact that those deaths had achieved absolutely nothing.
Their confidence in their own skills only doubled their confusion. Unable to accept the situation, the squad members stared blankly at Kasper, waiting. They could no longer make their own judgments; they had placed their lives in his hands.
What order could he possibly give? What could he say to raise their morale from rock bottom? No, now was not the time for orders.
"From now on, I will take the lead."
Drawing his sword, Kasper muttered in a low voice.
There was no need to overthink it. This wasn't a suppression operation to defeat an unknown monster and restore peace to Riaze.
This is a dungeon.
That monster is a dungeon boss. That's all.
"This is a dungeon subjugation."
Therefore, we think only of winning.
In an instant, eyes filled with fear turned resolute. With a short shout, cold air began to rise from the Zweihander Kasper held. Without another word, he glanced at his comrades behind him. Everyone was looking at him. They exchanged a single, knowing glance.
"Let's go."
He didn't give a roaring command to break the enemy's momentum. Kasper simply kicked off the ground first. Wind-attribute magic was imbued in his troll-skin boots. The blessing of light that flared behind him spread into two pairs of wings. The subjugation squad charged after him.
"...Patrick would love you guys if he saw this. As expected of a swordsman, that dog secretly loves this kind of thing—fighting with the single-minded determination to win, no matter the odds. But you see..."
Swallow glanced at the approaching squad and lightly cracked his neck.
"Once you die, belief doesn't mean a thing."
Kasper, arriving first, swung his sword. Colorless sword energy shot toward Swallow. Swallow took the attack with his body and swung his right hand. Kasper narrowly dodged. Another knight lunged, taking advantage of the opening.
Stab.
The blade only dug into his flesh.
"Three."
The monster grabbed the knight's head with his right hand and slammed it straight into the ground. Crash! The ground erupted. The shield-bearer blocked the flying debris with his massive shield, then struck Swallow's shoulder with its edge. He tore through the shield as if it were paper and grabbed the knight's wrist.
"Four, five."
Using the knight as a club, Swallow slammed him into another soldier. The clang of armor on armor echoed loudly as the blood of two men sprayed through the air.
Right after.
Thud. Hit on the back of the head, Swallow's vision shook for a moment.
"Finish him...!"
"Six."
Black Thorns erupted from Swallow's back, piercing the squad member's abdomen. The man coughed up blood, impaled and suspended in midair by the thorn.
An explosion spell, hidden behind the human shield, slammed into Swallow's body.
A loud explosion engulfed him in thick smoke. Taking advantage of the confusion, two spears shot forward. Only the thud of one spear piercing flesh was heard. Soon, as the dust cleared, two more corpses were seen dangling from the thorns.
The floor was drenched in blood. Corpses were beginning to pile up. The storm of attacks began to lose its momentum. Panic began to creep into the eyes of the survivors. Once again, a squad member's sword strike, delivered with all their might, slashed Swallow diagonally.
But it was useless. Swallow waved his arm as if shooing away a fly. With that simple gesture, the squad member's abdomen burst open, and he collapsed to the floor with a groan.
"C-Cough..."