Something That Should Not Exist
"Wh-who—gah!"
"Gyaah!"
The Guardian Order pushed deeper into the cave and cut down the Outer God Alliance cultists who had been holding the entrance.
"Confirm the marks without fail!"
With that final warning, the man vanished into the cave's interior.
Outside, Akina's knights formed a perimeter around the mouth of the cave, sealing it off.
Patisha cast a spell around the entrance, and a refracted, transparent veil unfurled in front of the knights. From the outside looking in, nothing seemed amiss—but from the inside looking out, the knights themselves became invisible, the light bent with exquisite precision.
Without anyone needing to tell her, Merencia took the center position as if it were the most natural thing in the world—the spot any enemy breaking out would hit first—and gripped her spear tight.
"Doesn't look like there's any room for us to jump in."
Arty muttered it lightly, eyeing their party, which had been left naturally to the rear by the flow of the formation.
"This is better. They're used to fighting as a coordinated unit. For outsiders like us, focusing on cleaning up whoever they miss from behind is how we actually help them."
Having felt firsthand how accustomed Akina's knights were to cooperating against strong opponents, Priscilla judged it wiser to orchestrate from the rear. If she charged in just because she was a Master and stronger than them, the whole line would collapse. Of course, those knights could probably adapt on the spot even if that happened—but the best outcome was for it never to happen at all.
"I know that, but it's still a little disappointing."
Lillian drew the greatsword that had been designed to match her body in every respect—weight, balance, size. The magic sword Kaisent had forged for her. She wanted to fight with it.
"Look on the bright side. Right now, wiping out the Outer God Alliance is what matters."
"True. There'll be a chance to use it later."
Lillian and Priscilla both assumed that with Charlize herself on the field, they would only be dealing with small fry—and that those small fry would be handled by Akina's knights.
"……."
"Kaisent? What's wrong? Your face has gone stiff."
Yet for some reason, Kaisent was staring into the depths of the cave with a grim expression.
"I can feel an ominous… no. A horrible aura……."
Constitutionally more sensitive to energy than most, he was, for the first time in his life, sensing a presence that could only be described as horrible. If his stomach had been even a little weaker, he would have thrown up on the spot.
But that isn't all. Something else… hard to put into words. Something deeply, deeply wrong.
Never having felt anything so horrible and ominous, Kaisent summoned his death knight and tried somehow to steady his chest.
—Master, please calm yourself.—
It's bad. Insanely bad. Worse than the fear I felt right before my first real battle.
—It seems there is a presence inside that cave that should not exist. It is not too late. Withdraw with your companions to a safe distance.—
I can't!
Kaisent looked at the backs of Merencia and Patisha, who were sealing the cave mouth alongside the knights.
If something goes wrong, those two will die for certain. No—something worse than simply dying will happen to them. I'm sure of it.
If asked how he knew, the only answer he could give was just because.
—Then circulate your internal art and regulate the flow of your energy. Your heart rate has spiked sharply, and your entire body has locked up.—
Thanks to Artemis, Kaisent managed to ease the rigidity from his limbs. He could only pray that everything would end without incident.
"Intruders!"
"Leave the small fry! Don't waste your strength!"
Inside the cave, the stench of blood hung thick from the fighting between the Guardian Order and the Outer God Alliance's followers. No—the cave had already been steeped in blood-reek long before the battle began. The walls were painted with countless spatters of gore, and human arms and legs hung like cuts of meat. Of course it reeked of blood.
"Die, you white dogs!!"
Then a group of East Asians opened fire with mismatched modern firearms. Not weapons produced in this world—arms seized from otherworlders from another Earth, their ammunition stockpiled and now poured out in a storm.
But the bullets failed to pierce the full-body armor of the knights. They left only shallow dents before dropping weakly to the ground.
Unable to deal meaningful damage to the knights, the Outer God's followers concentrated their fire on Charlize, who wore nothing more than a thin scrap of a robe. The rounds that flew toward her slammed into an invisible wall and hung frozen in midair.
"Yap~"
"Gyaaah!"
"Kehek!"
With a playful shout and a flick of her fingers, the bullets reversed course and turned the gunmen into sieves.
"H-hiiik!"
"C-come with me!"
"You bastards! Running off by yourselves?!"
Realizing their power was useless against the Guardian Order, the Outer God's followers began fleeing deeper into the cave. Having confirmed there was no other exit, the Guardian Order pursued without haste.
"East Asians. The smell of people who don't bathe. The way they prioritize only their own lives. They appear to be Chinese."
"Haa. Them again. Why are the East Asians from that planet called Earth always like this?"
An investigator who had quickly examined the corpses to confirm a certain fact reported that most of them were Chinese, and the man let out a sigh.
Koreans and Japanese tended to thrash about as if they were some kind of heroes—and that was as far as it went. The Chinese, by contrast, committed every kind of atrocity. Gathering in packs to plunder, murder, and rape was the baseline; they harbored an inexplicably fierce hatred toward white people; and under the banner of "Zhonghua," they coalesced in an instant, swelled their numbers, and justified their own acts.
In recent years the Outer God Alliance had begun recruiting otherworlders who might harbor grievances against this world, and as a result the number of Chinese joining their ranks had exploded. Unlike the Koreans and Japanese, the Chinese—who had long bullied those weaker than themselves under the name of Zhonghua—nursed a bitter resentment at having become the weak ones themselves.
"When their lives are in danger, the Chinese prioritize only their own survival. We need to conserve our strength to deal with Blood Zen, so open an escape route and let the ordinary ones run."
Other Outer God Alliance followers, if carelessly released, would regroup and strike from behind. With the Chinese, that would never happen. Even if they gathered under the cry of building a new Zhonghua, the moment their own lives were threatened they scattered like cockroaches.
Having confirmed that the bulk of the enemy were Chinese, they decided to leave the rabble to Akina's knights and conserve their strength until they faced Blood Zen.
Aaagh— ghk— help me—
The elite of the Guardian Order, who had coordinated for years, used holy power, magic, and a host of other forces to cut down the Outer God Alliance.
"S-save us!"
"Please, help us!"
As they pushed deeper, survivors locked in cages heard the commotion and began begging to be rescued.
"You, and you. Stabilize the prisoners, and make sure the ones fleeing don't massacre them."
"Yes, sir!"
The two holy knights calmed the captives, telling them to wait here for a short while—allies were outside dealing with everyone who tried to escape. Even with two of them peeled off, the Order was already overwhelming the enemy so thoroughly that the gap was barely felt as they continued to eliminate the Outer God Alliance's followers.
"…Something's off."
They were clearing the enemy smoothly and advancing deeper, yet Charlize frowned as if something sat wrong with her.
"What is the problem?"
"It's going too smoothly."
Every enemy they had faced so far had been small fry, or at most a couple of ranks above that.
"A figure as important as Blood Zen should have escorts to match. Have we fought a single enemy who could even be called strong?"
"They're using these people as meat shields to wear us down, then waiting for us in the deepest chamber, aren't they?"
The man offered a reasonable enough explanation for Charlize's doubt—
"I just checked. I can't sense a single strong presence inside this cave."
—but she informed him that there was no one present who even ranked as a powerhouse, making it clear that something about the situation was wrong.
And the thing that answered her doubt was the dying scream of a Chinese cultist who had nowhere left to run.
"Why aren't they coming?! They said they'd disguise themselves as prisoners and hit us from behind!"
"Disguise as prisoners? Don't tell me—!"
Just as Charlize and the man tried to rush toward the cages, talismans flew in and raised a translucent golden wall.
"Tsk, tsk. To think those are the descendants of the future."
A young East Asian man appeared, blood staining him—blood that looked to belong both to the knights left to stabilize the prisoners and to the captives inside the cages.
A monster.
Facing Blood Zen for the first time, Charlize understood at once that he was a monster wearing a human skin. It was not a description of strength. Blood Zen's eyes looked at people as something other than people—and felt no problem with that at all. That was the monster.
Teleport first—
Teleportation was possible inside the cave, if not outside it. Charlize tried to jump past the wall—and realized the golden barrier blocked teleportation as well. She set her hand against it and began trying to dismantle it.
Tch. It's solid. And it's different from ordinary magic, so it's hard to unravel.
"No matter how gifted you are, an ability of a different order is difficult to dismantle."
"So you're Blood Zen? Hiding among the prisoners for an ambush—petty, aren't you?"
"Petty or not, if you win, it's over, is it not? That said, this world cannot be taken lightly either. Had we fought fairly, I would have had some trouble."
"You're more disappointing than I expected~? Absorbing other people's talent, and this is as far as you got?"
"Heh heh heh. I can't even argue—you're right."
Beyond the barrier, Charlize stalled for time any way she could, working to break Blood Zen's sorcery. Blood Zen, however, had no intention of wasting time on a war of words.
"Lord Blood Zen!"
"Yes! Now we can hit them together!"
The Chinese who had thrown themselves into the Outer God Alliance thought, at his appearance, that the plan was back on track for a pincer attack—but he began to shake a staff hung with bells.
Jiiing~~~~
"Kh!? Gyaaaaah!"
"Grrrrrr!"
The Chinese shrieked, then, as if stripped of reason, began wildly burning their Innate Qi and hurling themselves at the Guardian Order. Attacking while mindless and consuming their own lifespans, they became impossible to suppress cleanly even for overwhelming powerhouses.
"Haht!"
Thuk!
Still, the Guardian Order's elites did not panic. They methodically drove their swords through the attackers' heads—
"Krgagagagegegek!"
"Th-these things! Even with their brains destroyed—!"
—yet the Chinese kept pouring on the assault as if it made no difference whether their brains were sliced or pierced.
"Hahahahat! Have fun playing with the toys I made!"
Confirming that the curse he had planted in his future descendants had activated properly, Blood Zen moved toward the exit.
What is he playing at? No escorts, hiding in the prison just long enough to hinder us, then running—that's all?
If he had been hiding among the prisoners, it meant he had roughly anticipated their attack. And yet the only "trap" was forcing them to fight his mindless subordinates?
This isn't a trap aimed at our lives. What is he after?
Even as she dismantled the sorcery, she spun her thoughts, trying to grasp Blood Zen's intent.
Wait. That man—Blood Zen—called the Chinese his descendants of the future.
The selfish nature of Chinese who cared only for themselves. A trap designed to pin them in place.
"He even deceived the Outer God Alliance!"
The moment the pieces locked together, Charlize erupted in a fury utterly unlike her usual self.
"Why… why are you—?"
"That creature is trying to grow even stronger here! That's why he locked us in!"
"What? What does locking us in have to do with growing stronger… ah!"
The man who had been guarding Charlize against any contingency realized it a beat late.
"Blood Zen was after a different target from the very beginning!"
Outside were Merencia, the eldest daughter said to have inherited Akina's talent intact, and Patisha, gifted as a mage. And Kaisent—the otherworlder of genius talent whom Akina was doing everything in her power to bring into the family.
Blood Zen had avoided fighting powerhouses who had already reached full maturity. He had used both them and the Outer God Alliance so that he could devour those who were still soft and unripe—but rich in talent.
"I can't concentrate—finish those things off already!"
"B-but my duty is to guard—"
"I said finish them!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
Seeing the ever-composed, smiling Charlize wear a vicious expression for the first time, the man started and began cutting down the Chinese who were attacking while burning their life force.
If you lay a hand on that child, I will make you weep tears of blood—no matter what it takes!
From the first moment she saw him, Kaisent had possessed a mysterious charm and an unspoiled purity that stirred every protective instinct. A boy like a cooling tonic, who made her feel better just by looking at him. If a monster like Blood Zen were to devour him, she would make that creature regret it by any means necessary.