Public Enemy: Western Nightmare (1)
“Ready?”
“Start.”
I nodded to the Tower Master as she prepared the magic.
“Then I’ll activate it.”
Chaotic flows of mana surged.
A thick pillar slowly rose from the magic circle carved into the floor.
What kind of magic was this?
I lifted my hand slightly and flinched.
My right hand rose, but my left hand went up instead.
It was reversing the senses.
A rather annoying spell.
“Even if it’s you, escaping won’t be easy.”
“Yeah.”
My will and actions didn’t match.
This strange sensation was new, so it was fascinating. I kept moving my body.
I twisted my neck, twisted my waist, bent my knees.
As I moved around, the unfamiliar feeling gradually became familiar.
“I’ve got it roughly.”
“How is it?”
“About thirty points.”
The Tower Master’s expression sharpened with a cold evaluation.
“I’d like to hear the reason.”
“The activation is too slow. It won’t work in real combat.”
“That was what I was planning to fix. If you know where the problem is, it’s not a flaw.”
A lame excuse.
The Tower Master was a typical magician and a nag.
It meant he never admitted his own mistakes.
“And the dispelling is too easy.”
“You’re talking nonsense. Prove it.”
I had anticipated this and moved the mana in advance.
“Watch carefully.”
I wrapped aura around both hands and struck the floor.
Then the seemingly solid pillar easily shattered and fell.
“Did you see?”
“…….”
“It’s even more fragile than the ‘Unbalanced Space’ the hero used. If this continues, you’ll catch up to Breny in a few months.”
I said it honestly to help with the activation.
Actually, I don’t usually hide my true feelings.
“Does the experiment end here today?”
“…Yeah. Hurry back.”
One of the tasks I had been assigned as Riella’s secretary.
The magic experiment assistance had ended successfully.
“Thanks for your hard work.”
“You should stop pretending to be friendly.”
The Tower Master had been constantly wary of me.
For a week while staying at the Purple Magic Tower.
I didn’t want to get close either.
If I were cute like Breny, maybe, but.
I had no intention of getting close to this unnecessarily sensitive old man.
Moreover, he wasn’t a talent capable of beating me.
Maintaining an appropriate distance was the way for both of us.
“I’m going. If there’s another magic to experiment with, call me.”
“Get lost quickly.”
Leaving the Tower Master who was displeased behind, when I came out of the magic practice room.
A text suddenly appeared in front of me.
[Come to the basement. I have something to show you.]
A message from Riella.
I turned my direction and took the stairs going down.
What was she calling for?
If my memory was correct, the basement was where experimental subjects belonging to the captured Demon King’s army were kept.
- It’s a bit unsettling.
“Why?”
- Extreme poison is rising from the bottom of this tower.
Aura detection possible.
I couldn’t just ignore it.
The existence emitting poison was only vicious ones.
“Tell me more in detail.”
- There’s a thick hatred mixed in. The heart to hate someone reaches the sky. Or, if left alone, it might spread across the world!
The expression was exaggerated, but the danger was real.
Since Sun-bask cannot lie.
“You’re not a demon? After being tortured every day, you’d want to kill them all.”
- There is demon poison too.
As I continued descending the stairs, listening to Gloria’s words.
- But it’s not a demon. There’s another existence. The poison is too intense, so I can’t identify it yet.
A mysterious enemy emitting massive presence.
Information that made my ears perk up.
“Could it be a strong enemy?”
I asked cautiously, expecting it.
- Probably. Even Clitia-nim would be in danger if you let your guard down.
The anticipation spread throughout my heart, making it thrilling.
Was it a gift prepared by Riella for me?
I hurried down.
How many legs had I moved?
Eventually, the stairs ended and I reached the lowest floor.
“How did you come?”
A small room made of white, smooth marble.
A young magician guarding the door spoke to me.
“I am Aria, the secretary of the Tower Master.”
I pulled the hood of the robe I was wearing deeper unnecessarily and answered.
“Please come in. The Tower Master is waiting for you.”
Allowing entry without inspection.
It was convenient to have powerful people as friends.
“I’ll open the door.”
I entered through the door opened by the polite magician.
A corridor with magic device lighting brightly.
Bright and clean, yet somehow stuffy atmosphere.
Closed doors lined up at regular intervals on the walls.
Iron doors with magic circles drawn to prevent escape.
And intermittent screams.
A curse-like scream.
It seemed like the captured demon was screaming.
How much pain it was in, it was numbing.
“I’m here?”
Riella, standing in the middle of the corridor, waved at me.
“It’s a dangerous experiment. How is it?”
“It feels bad.”
I felt sympathy for the demon for the first time.
“Yeah? I feel refreshed when I’m here. Those trash are suffering.”
It started again.
Whenever the topic related to evil came up, she became extremely extreme.
She didn’t seem to know what was strange about herself.
There must have been something bad in her past.
- That person also has a strange personality like Clitia-nim.
“Don’t compare.”
I couldn’t say I was normal, but not to that extent.
“Come.”
I walked side by side with Riella.
Feeling sorry for my friend’s deviation.
The corridor was surprisingly long.
As I walked, Riella’s humming and screams mixed, creating a bizarre harmony.
“We’re here.”
I stopped.
The end of the corridor.
Unlike other iron doors, there was a purple iron door.
“Here it is.”
“What exactly are you trying to show me?”
“See for yourself.”
With a snap of the finger, the locked purple iron door creaked open.
“Insane…”
As soon as it opened, a fierce stench of something hit my nose.
“Ah, sorry. Ventilation isn’t good. Let’s go in.”
It smelled like rotting corpses.
Moreover, it was as dark as pitch black, so I couldn’t see what was inside.
I became a bit uneasy.
But since I had come this far, I couldn’t turn back, so I entered.
As soon as my foot touched, the surroundings brightened.
A wide but gloomy room.
I had been here once before.
In a hallucination, not reality.
“Do you remember the place where I hurt you? There it is.”
Every surface of the room was covered with magic circles.
Exactly as it was in my memory.
The fine patterns and letters were the same.
“It’s not a sophisticated hallucination, just a reproduction.”
“Original hallucination-type magic is like that.”
Even the chains protruding out restraining someone matched.
But the state of ‘someone’ was not good.
A body that had rotted and decayed, so hard to tell its original age and gender.
“What you’re showing me is this.”
“What is the identity? It can’t be a normal corpse.”
Riella looked at my eyes for a moment and answered.
“Public Enemy. Same as you.”
Even though it was a short word, there were two places that were surprising.
“I am a Public Enemy?”
“…Did you not know?”
Giph had only said I was infamous, not Public Enemy.
Why didn’t he tell me?
It wasn’t a big problem, but it was annoying.
I would interrogate him later when we meet.
“Then how many are there now?”
“Seven.”
In my memory, it was five, but now two more had increased.
“Anyway, it’s not just a normal corpse, it’s a Public Enemy.”
Then, undead?
My interest piqued.
“Is this guy that dangerous?”
“Go check.”
I approached closely and examined in detail.
It was a sight that made me nauseous.
The body was excessively decayed.
Undead are made by dark magic.
But usually, they are embalmed so they don’t rot too much.
If it’s ruined to the point of not being able to move, it’s troublesome.
That is, it means it’s not undead.
Then, there was only one possibility.
“Corpse Locust?”
“Correct.”
Corpse Locust.
An insect monster that parasitizes the body of a dead creature and uses it as armor and home.
It also appeared in Apolis Tales.
It had a lame name, so it was mainly called ‘zombie bug’.
Of course, there were many differences from real zombies.
Corpse Locusts live in groups.
Centered around the strongest individual, the entire group shares consciousness and conducts meticulous and tenacious hunting.
The situation was serious.
It couldn’t have been just one that became a Public Enemy.
“Could the entire group be Public Enemies?”
“Clitia, you’re smart.”
“Don’t joke. How many are there?”
Riella thought for a moment and opened her mouth.
“Unmeasurable. Just think of them swarming disgustingly.”
“Where are they now?”
“Throughout the entire Western Continent. If the Great Mountain Range hadn’t blocked it, it would have been much more.”
“…….”
In the game, it was only up to two digits, controlling one small village.
But the scale had become too big.
“Clitia, I have a favor to ask.”
“Catch all of these?”
“Public Enemy ‘Western Nightmare’ extermination. How about it, good?”
A chuckle came out.
I was saying unbelievable things.
“Of course it’s good. What are you asking?”
I was moved.
This was a blessing.
The more there are, the stronger they are, that’s common sense.
It would be the strongest enemy I had ever faced.
Moreover, if I just catch the leader individual, the others will naturally self-destruct, so it’s not even a hopeless extermination.
It was better to have a battle with some chance of victory than a sure defeat.
Then the value of defeat would be higher.
“Then you’ll take it?”
“But there’s something more important to do.”
But I couldn’t stop the party’s spirit education in the middle.
“I have to finish before they all gather in one place. If I miss the timing, it will be hard to reverse.”
“The newly selected Great Saintess is in the West. Isn’t it okay to solve it as a side job?”
The reason to refuse disappeared.
“I’ll do it.”
I immediately agreed.
With praise as the best friend.
“You’ve thought well. As my secretary, go in dispatch form. It’s Western reconnaissance work.”
“I will obey your orders, Tower Master.”
A good setting.
Now I could continue receiving help from Riella.
“Our tower doesn’t use such language. So when are you going?”
“Right away tomorrow.”
“I’ll prepare the supplies.”
We were discussing the specific extermination plan and came out of the basement.
- Clitia-nim.
As I was climbing the stairs, Gloria whispered softly.
- The owner of the poison I mentioned earlier.
“Ah, that. Was it the one tied up earlier?”
- No. It’s an individual connected to that individual. It seems like the leader.
Poison transmitted by crossing consciousness and consciousness.
If it was the leader individual of countless groups controlling the entire West, it was possible.
- But…
“Why again?”
- I read the will transmitted from the poison. I’ll pass it on as is, so don’t get angry?
Gloria kept apologizing repeatedly and said.
- Clitia, where exactly are you.
“…What?”
- I love you. I’ll drop the sun for you.
Cold water poured on my thrilling heart.