#057 Counterattack
#057 Counterattack
At that moment.
"In the name of the Azure Moon Goddess!! Burn!!"
FWOOSH.
Bareness's Holy Sword split the darkness.
The Dimensional Gate that had opened in the middle of the lake blazed fiercely under the slash of the Holy Sword Bareness had swung, and the monsters that had been trying to keep pouring out of the gate were also annihilated by the Holy Sword.
"Hoo...."
"You've worked hard, Mercenary King."
"Mm."
Bareness checked the condition of the strike force that had rushed over to block the Dimensional Gate.
Most of them had been injured quite badly while fighting enemies on the way here, but fortunately no one had been wounded badly enough to die or be left behind.
All of them, safe.
No one was hurt, and no one died.
And the Dimensional Gate was closed safely.
Surely, this would be an enormous achievement for humanity.
"Would you like a potion?"
"No, I'm fine. You drink it. Thanks to the Holy Sword, my body doesn't need to eat or drink."
"But...."
"You drink it. I'm fine."
The strike force soldier beside her who had offered the potion gave a somewhat awkward smile, but Bareness frowned as she looked at the traces beneath the vanished Dimensional Gate.
"...How long is Acedia going to keep tormenting humanity?"
Countless monster corpses floated on the lake.
The crow monster-birds had been reduced to charcoal and floated on the lake, and Bareness aimed her sword at the lake once more.
"Burn, purifying flame. As the flame that destroys evil—"
"Bareness!! There's an emergency!"
"...Hm?"
Bareness released the flames she had gathered across the Holy Sword.
The mage who had come running in urgency took out a crystal orb connected to Normance.
"Normance is under attack! It appears to be the main force of the crow legion!"
"Tch...!"
As expected.
The witch's prediction had been right.
He had wanted to believe the witch's words to a strange degree, but it wasn't simply because of the good impression he had of the witch.
"Even so, the Magitech Anti-Aircraft Cannons...!!"
"Sandworms burrowed underground and entered the city interior! They say crows are pouring out from there!!"
"What?"
He hadn't expected that at all.
"No, that can't be!! No matter how much of a border region Normance is, there's no way it couldn't detect the movements of Sandworms!"
"Th-that's...."
The young mage turned pale and pointed at the crystal orb.
"Th-they say all the Mana Stones that detect underground movement appear to have been destroyed...!!"
"Traitors!!"
Bareness went pale.
"Acedia's spies who betrayed humanity had infiltrated Normance! Damn it, was the plan to evacuate people to the south also something they schemed? N-no. There's no time to waste here! Hurry to Normance—"
"That won't be happening. Heh heh."
Along with a cold old man's voice, the surroundings were covered in bleak shadows.
"This is...!!"
"'Veil of Darkness.' With this, the Azure Moon Goddess's blessing will not reach you."
"Tch...a barrier!!"
"Indeed. It is a barrier of darkness in which you will die without a sound. And I am the guillotine of death that will execute you here."
Clank.
The old man raised his scythe.
"I, Furcas, will kill you. Flame Hero."
"...Do you bastards think you can win just because the Azure Moon Goddess's blessing is gone?"
"If we mobilize everything by any means necessary. For example...."
Shunk!!
The sound of something being stabbed.
The mage in front of Bareness went bloodshot-eyed, and a dagger was lodged in his side.
"G-ghk, ghhk...!"
"Hee-hee-hee!!"
Some of the strike force soldiers had stabbed their comrades.
Those with violet madness flickering in their eyes were swinging their swords at one another, running wild.
"Y-you bastards...!!"
"If you had drunk the potion, you would have been caught. A shame."
"How far have you reached...!!"
"How far? Haha."
The old man shrugged as he pointed at the strike force soldiers approaching him.
The strike force soldiers grabbed their own shoulders and flailed their arms wide, and in an instant they shed their human skins.
They were.
Undead.
"You bastards...!!"
"We had already taken root deep in the human world. Hah, you have no idea how much trouble it was to cover them in skin so the Undead energy wouldn't show on the outside."
"Y-you cowards...!"
"Cowards? Hahaha! What is cowardly about this! Cowardly or not, in the end the one who wins is the victor!"
Clank.
"I, Furcas! Will prove it to those jaw-rattling osteoporosis old geezers! That I am the new power who will lead the future of the new Demon King Army!"
"You look like an old man yourself...!"
"Ha, you just said something you shouldn't have...!"
Furcas scattered blue light from his eyes and raised his scythe.
"I am, forty years old!!"
CLAAAAANG!!
"Everyone who's still sane, gather around me! Subdue the comrades who've lost their minds, then eliminate those Undead!"
"Leave the ones in confusion! Eliminate the Holy Sword Hero first!"
Beneath the Veil of Darkness.
The black scythe and the crimson Holy Sword began to cross.
* * *
"The tempo's faster than I thought."
Maybe because they're black crows, but the speed of their onslaught is no joke.
Drawing attention with the giant monster-birds.
Infiltrating Sandworms underground to scatter crows.
And if I think about the hidden moves in between....
Deliberately leaving the Dimensional Gate alone to draw in the biggest variable, the Flame Hero.
Disguising themselves as humans or using doubles and spies to neutralize the Magitech Anti-Aircraft Cannons.
Or destroying the crystal orbs around the city that detect Demonic Energy.
Assassinating or kidnapping key figures like Branch Chief Francis.
'Impressive.'
Movement this thorough would have been impossible unless the person had repeatedly watched the Demon King Army's military maneuvers firsthand or experienced them several times.
'Is he at least a regional base executive?'
Not quite at the level of a Demon King Castle executive, but he has more than enough power to be entrusted with the defense of a base in a kingdom's county.
'He's an enemy, but he's excellent.'
If not for the unstable element called Zepar, I'd want to take him as a subordinate.
Of course, right now he's an enemy.
"Hey. Snap out of it."
I slapped the dazed Francis on the cheek to wake him up.
"What are you doing spacing out here when you're the Adventurers' Guild branch chief? What about the people?"
"Th-that's...."
"How close were you?"
"......We even slept together."
"Oh."
As expected.
The Demon King Army used any means necessary.
They knew better than anyone how to seduce a bald man.
"How many years did you know each other?"
"Almost over ten years."
"Hmm, then I get the picture."
I grabbed Francis by the collar.
"The reason they attacked Normance isn't anything else—it's because you're the head of the Adventurers' branch here. If they neutralize you, the adventurers will each fend for themselves, and then their forces will be relatively scattered."
"They were targeting me...?"
"That's right. To an enemy Demonfolk, you were the perfect sucker—someone who trusted her more than anyone and could easily be betrayed. You'd done everything together except get married, so wasn't she the comrade you trusted more than anyone? The Demon King Army exploited that."
"Th-that...."
Francis despaired.
Well, even if I had been human, if I found out that a woman I 'loved' had been in a relationship with me for ten years to kill me, I'd be briefly crushed too.
But that kind of moping can wait until after the situation is over.
"What you need to do now is rally the adventurers and fight together. With no Hero here right now, you have to step up."
"The Hero is...."
"Hey."
Thwack.
I swung my fist at Francis's cheek.
I had considered slapping him, but this seemed more effective.
"Don't always hope for a Hero to step up whenever things get hard. Can't you do anything without a Hero? Do you think everything gets solved if you just hope the Hero solves it all?"
"That's...."
"A Hero is a person too. Sometimes they get tired and want to rest, and sometimes there are people they can't save. It's not about always relying on the Hero to fight—it's the job of someone in your position to back them up from behind so the Hero can step forward with confidence. Got it?"
"......Thank you, Witch."
Francis rubbed his cheek and nodded.
"Thanks to your scolding, my mind feels a little...clearer."
"If you've come to your senses, hurry to the guild and get things under control. I'll be burning up the Sandworms, so you...."
Ah, in my momentary irritation, the real me came out instead of the 'Crimson Mage.'
"...You go help people quickly."
I left Francis and ran to the next location.
I set my staff horizontally in the air and climbed onto it with Levitation magic.
SWISH!!
I flew swiftly through the air toward the destination where they would be waiting.
As expected, they were already waiting for me with all preparations complete.
"Knock knock. Ready?"
Knocking through the window, I greeted the two men and women who had woken from sleep and were maintaining their full senses.
"Lucius. Rosemas. Did you both sleep well?"
"...If we hadn't slept and had stayed up, I think we might have been able to respond right away."
Lucius fiddled with his ring and bit his lower lip.
Barely five minutes had passed since the enemy appeared, but he seemed to regret the time spent waking from sleep and changing clothes during those five minutes when he couldn't move quickly.
"Don't worry. Thanks to the countermeasures I set up in advance, no one has died yet."
"What?"
"The enemy moved just as I predicted, so they're probably flustered that fewer crows are emerging than they planned."
Stuff troops into a Sandworm's mouth and drop them into the middle of the enemy formation.
"The Sandworms have to burst up through the ground, but the moment they come up, their heads explode, so they can't open their mouths and end up buried in the ground as they are."
Since that was a tactic I had mainly used since long ago, I had installed Magic Circles at every major point where the Sandworms would burst up through the ground.
"Master, while we were sleeping, did you perhaps...?"
"I just used mana here and there. A tiny bit."
"......Understood."
Why do I have to watch Lucius's reaction about using mana?
"Then what should we do now?"
"Save people."
I pointed outside to Lucius and Rosemas.
"One hour. Go save people to your heart's content for about one hour. The two of you."
"Master, what are you planning to do alone again...."
"Don't worry. I'll be hiding in the safest place."
I pointed out the window at the Sandworm that had died with its head exploded.
"I'm going to go inside that thing and farm. When else would I get a chance to gather this much mana again?"
This opportunity.
I can't miss it.
"If it gets dangerous, I'll call you at full power, Lucius, so come running right away. Got it?"
"Understood, Master."
"Ah, and."
I reached toward Lucius's ring.
"If it comes down to it, use it."
"...Are you serious?"
"Yes. The chances of us falling into danger are low, but...."
Aaaaah!!
A scream from outside. I pointed out the window.
"People are in danger, so if you need to use it, use it."
"Master."
Lucius fiddled with his ring, with the Holy Sword, then placed the Holy Sword against his chest.
"If it gets dangerous, please call my name without fail. I will come running at any time."
"Save the people in front of you first."
"Master, I—"
"I'm telling you again: save the people you can protect first."
I grabbed the wrist of the arm Lucius had placed against his chest and lightly tapped his chest.
"Don't live with regrets like me."