Chapter 167: The Mischievous Zakaril (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 167: The Mischievous Zakaril (2)
A demon had appeared in the treasury.
Its appearance was so androgynous it was hard to tell if it was a boy or a girl. Looking at the demon before me, I couldn't help but wonder.
‘Why is a demon here?’
I wracked my brain, but I couldn't come up with anything.
Had I missed something?
I asked myself, but the answer was no.
There was no connection to demons in Azyeth's story whatsoever.
Of course, the story didn't repeat itself like a computer program, but even considering that, a demon appearing here was completely out of the blue.
But the more I stared, the more a new question arose.
‘I feel like I've seen them somewhere before…’
The demon looked familiar.
That would mean it was one of the NPCs I'd seen in TOS…
Where had I seen them?
“Huh?”
While I was searching my memory, the demon, who had been sullenly kicking at the treasure, met my gaze.
“Oh? You?!”
The demon's eyes widened the moment it saw me.
It reacted as if it knew me.
The demon grinned brightly and greeted me as if we were old friends reuniting.
“Wow! I was just looking for you, and what do you know, we run into each other here! How strange! This is already getting fun!”
“Um, do you know me? I don't believe we've met.”
“Of course I do! You're the Magic Tower Master's master, aren't you?”
If my guess was correct, Mirabelle was the Magic Tower Master. I had no idea what possessed her to become the Magic Tower Master, though.
Anyway, strictly speaking, it was true that I was the Magic Tower Master's master.
But more importantly, the Magic Tower…
‘The Magic Tower?’
In that instant, something flashed in my mind.
“An elder of the Magic Tower, the Mischievous Zakaril?”
“Wow! You know me? How did you know? How did you guess? Did the Magic Tower Master tell you?”
Zakaril affirmed my question with a childlike innocence.
I had to swallow dryly.
The Magic Tower only made a brief appearance and wasn't a particularly important location. The same went for its members, but there was a reason Zakaril, in particular, stood out in my memory.
The Mischievous Zakaril.
One of the elders of the Magic Tower.
Contrary to public opinion, the mages of the Magic Tower were all, without exception, out of their minds, but Zakaril had a particularly unique personality among them.
A pure embodiment of evil who wouldn't hesitate to commit mass murder for fun and was incapable of feeling guilt.
For a creature like that to appear before me meant something was seriously wrong. Especially now, when it was showing an interest in me.
“Do you have some business with me?”
“Yup! Morgana knew I'd be bored and told me to come play with you!”
Morgana was the witch who had been with Mirabelle.
Morgana sent Zakaril to me?
Did Mirabelle order it?
I had no idea what was going on.
But one thing was certain.
I was facing the danger of a lifetime.
“Since you're the Magic Tower Master's master, you must be stronger than her, right? Hmm, but I can't feel any power from you. What kind of power are you hiding?”
“Hold on. Playing with me won't be much fun. I know someone much more interesting, so why don't you play with them instead?”
“Really?”
“Of course. They're right upstairs, so if you come with me…”
“No! I want to play with you! You're the Magic Tower Master's master, so you must be super strong, right? Show me your power! Play with me!”
Zakaril stretched out its limbs and spread its wings wide.
A Black Sea engulfed the treasury.
A school of sharks swam with their fins poking out before leaping up from the depths.
*
The Princess's Room.
The already cool room grew frigid under the influence of the gloomy Azyeth. Snowflakes drifted down from the ceiling.
For Azyeth, who never gave her family a second thought, this kind of reunion was far too sudden. She knew it was a sad event, but ironically, no tears came.
The same went for her emotions.
More than sadness, confusion dominated her feelings.
She was aware that something was wrong with her. The people of Lake Fortress had grieved and shed tears over Darka's death.
But Azyeth only felt a slight ache in her chest.
Perhaps too much time had passed to fix the broken doll.
Karami had tried so hard to help her.
She just felt sorry toward him.
Azyeth grew even more somber.
She buried her face in her knees.
It was then.
An alien and sinister energy made Azyeth's pupils dilate for a moment. Her drooping head shot up.
“...Rami?”
She whipped her head around, searching, but Karami was nowhere to be seen in the room.
Her heart sank.
The strange power was coming from underground.
She moved with an agility that belied her usual sluggishness.
She froze the floor and then stomped on it.
Shattering the icy floor, she descended to the basement in a single breath.
What she saw was a black surface like an abyss.
Azyeth created an ice platform in mid-air and landed lightly on it.
“Oh? Another interesting one has arrived.”
Azyeth's eyes met Zakaril's.
She turned her head, seemingly uninterested.
But Karami wasn't here either.
“Pretty lady! Who are you looking for?”
“...Rami. Where is he?”
“Rami? Ah, you mean the Magic Tower Master's master? He's so mean, you know? I thought he was going to play with me, but then he just vanished right before my eyes!”
“Rami. Where is he.”
“Beats me. I don't know either. I was about to eat him, but he disappeared, leaving only this behind.”
A black shark approached Zakaril's side. It took what the shark was holding in its mouth.
It was an arm.
From the elbow down to the hand.
Blood dripped from the horribly severed cross-section. It wasn't difficult for Azyeth to recognize whose it was.
It was Karami's arm—the one she always saw behind his back, a step behind her.
“Where could he have gone? Ah, maybe he wants to play hide-and-seek? I see! Then I must be 'it'! You can play too, lady—”
Crack!
Zakaril froze solid in an instant.
Turned into a block of ice, Zakaril fell to the ground.
A tiara appeared above Azyeth's head.
Her beautiful face was twisted into a savage snarl.
A shark swimming in the Black Sea swallowed Zakaril. A moment later, a soaking wet Zakaril emerged from the shark's mouth.
“What do you think you're doing?! Freezing someone all of a sudden!”
“Give… Rami… back…!”
“I told you, I don't know! If you keep getting in my way, I'll eat you first!”
Splash!
Sensing the flow of demonic energy beneath her feet, Azyeth retreated and switched to a new ice platform. A whale shark leaped from the sea and swallowed her previous platform.
The school of sharks swam through the Black Sea.
They watched for an opportunity to hunt their prey.
Azyeth didn't hesitate.
She willingly threw herself into the center of the Black Sea.
The sharks, not ones to miss an opening.
Snap— They opened their maws wide and rushed her all at once.
Just before their sharp teeth could tear Azyeth's body to shreds.
A blue radiance exploded.
The sharks.
The Black Sea.
The treasury.
Everything engulfed in the light was frozen solid.
“Wh-what?”
Zakaril's signature magic, the Black Sea.
A black sea created from the unique demonic energy of its race.
Any land creature would be submerged in the sea and torn apart alive by the school of sharks, and even if they managed to defeat the sharks, they would be restored in an instant.
An endless shark hell.
Once successfully deployed, it guaranteed an advantage in battle. An unfair magic that didn't even require a long time to cast.
But its opponent was a bad matchup.
It was none other than Azyeth, an authority on ice magic, who also had Skadia's Grace and was bound by a slave contract.
Azyeth, strengthened several times over, had overwritten the Black Sea with her own domain using overwhelming power.
The frozen sharks began to move again.
But they were no longer Zakaril's sharks.
They were Azyeth's loyal minions.
“What are you doing?! Those are my babies!”
Zakaril whined like a child.
Azyeth didn't like hurting people.
When the emotion of sadness reached her heart, she would resonate with it and become sad herself.
But the Azyeth of this moment didn't even pretend to listen.
She didn't feel the emotion of sadness.
“You. I will not forgive you.”
Because she was engulfed by a much larger emotion: rage.
Azyeth took a stance and leaped high into the air.
“Tch!”
Zakaril stretched both hands forward and cast a spell.
A black torrent poured out.
But it was meaningless.
With one swing of Azyeth's sword, the wave froze; with another, it split in two.
With its ultimate move blocked, there was no way such a petty trick would work. Azyeth's ice sword unleashed a flash of frigid light, severing one of Zakaril's wings.
Slice!
“Agh!”
The wing tumbled away.
Zakaril pressed a hand to its severed shoulder blade. It desperately flapped its remaining wing to stay airborne.
Azyeth prepared to leap again, this time not for a wing, but to end its life.
Zakaril waved its hands in terror.
By then, not a trace of its smile remained.
“W-wait! He seems important to you, do you have time for this? His arm was cut off, you know? He's probably bleeding out somewhere right now! If you don't find him soon, he'll die from blood loss!”
At that, Azyeth hesitated for the first time.
The arm, lying carelessly on the ground.
Her head, which had been burning with rage, cooled down.
The most important thing right now was Karami's safety.
Every second counted.
“Where. Is. Rami.”
“I-I told you, I don't know! I've told you so many times, there was a flash of light and he disappeared!”
Azyeth took her stance again.
“Eek?! I-it's true! He must have used some kind of magic tool! He must be somewhere in the treasury. Y-you'll find him if you look carefully, right?”
“...”
“Maybe he's too scared to come out because I'm here? I-I should probably get going, then? So I'm not in the way... hehe.”
Zakaril gave a sly laugh, glanced nervously at Azyeth, slipped past her, and then vanished in a flash.
Left alone, Azyeth looked around.
Zakaril was gone, but Karami still didn't appear.
Azyeth called out to Karami in a cautious voice.
“Rami...? It's okay now. Where are you?”
Then, something magical happened.
On one side of the treasury, a pile of treasure flashed with light.
It was the exact same phenomenon Zakaril had described.
And just as expected, Karami appeared.
Sprawled on the floor, with one arm missing.