#058 Monstrous Bird
#058 Monstrous Bird
Kiiiiiek!!
The Sandworm burst into view, chewing up the entire fountain.
People nearby threw themselves out of the way of the spraying water and marble shards, and the Sandworm swirled its mouth around and spat the fountain water back out.
Puhwaaak!!
As the white marble fragments spread like mist, a flock of black crows unfurled their wings behind them.
One by one, each different from ordinary crows, they flapped wings as massive as a hawk's or an eagle's and surged toward the humans.
SWISH!!
"Uwaaak!!"
A guard near the fountain screamed and collapsed.
He wore sturdy steel armor, but the crow's talons pierced through the steel plate with ease, and a fountain of blood erupted from within.
"Aaaah!!"
The women fled hastily toward the lit areas from the crows' assault.
They ran as best they could toward wherever the moonlight fell, and some even stripped off their clothes and threw them, brandishing the garments to threaten the crows.
"Kiiiit!!"
Crows kept bursting out of the Sandworm.
The location was so utterly unexpected that no one dared to think of attacking the Sandworm recklessly.
At this rate, every crow inside the Sandworm was about to pour out.
Around them—
Piyuyung————!!
A silver flash arced through the sky in a parabola.
In an instant, the crows' gazes turned toward the flash in the sky, and the crows began frantically flapping their wings and scattering.
"Rain of Arrows!!"
But the rain of arrows was faster.
The silver flash, which had stopped precisely at the center of the fountain, became sharp needles and poured down toward the crows and the Sandworm.
Pabababat.
Under the silver arrow rain, the crows were slammed into the ground, and arrows lodged in the Sandworm's mouth as well.
"Haaat!!"
SLASH, SLASH.
Weaving through the gaps between people, a silver elf attacked the crows with daggers in both hands.
The elf, with a robe wrapped around her waist and her upper body clad in black tights, moved with such speed that the crows could only be helplessly cut down by Rosemas.
But when dozens fell, one of them was bound to attack out of spite.
Kiiiit!!
"D-danger!!"
A crow that had been lying prone beneath the corpse of its comrade surged toward Rosemas.
Kicking off the ground with both feet, it ran with its beak thrust forward, trying to impale Rosemas like a spear.
WHAM!!
The crow slammed into something and went flying into the fountain.
Its beak lodged in the skin of the Sandworm that had emerged outside, and it flapped helplessly while the Sandworm shrieked and twisted its body.
"Are you all right?!"
"...I'm fine, Arthur."
Rosemas clenched her fist tightly.
"I'll handle the small fry. You..."
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!
A feast of flames embroidered the sky.
Unlike Rosemas's silver arrows, the crimson flames chased the crows from behind like birds, intercepting them.
WHOOSH—!
What the red arrows were chasing was a red witch performing acrobatic flight, her rear perched on a long staff.
"...I'll keep an eye on whatever the witch is concerned about, so Arthur, please look after the witch."
"......Rosemas, that's."
"Go, Arthur."
Rosemas twirled her daggers and showed firm resolve.
"I'll prove that I can fight well on my own, without anyone's protection...!!"
"...Don't overdo it, Rosemas!"
Lucius ran in the direction the witch was flying.
Rosemas watched Lucius's back for a moment, then turned her gaze forward.
Kiiiit....
Outside the fountain, the Sandworm was slowly pulling its body out.
"I'll take that thing down, so the rest of you handle the crows!"
"May the Azure Moon Goddess watch over us, and grant the blessing of light to all!"
"I'll draw the Sandworm's attention, so pierce it with your arrows!!"
"Please do!!"
SKREEEAAH!!
Inside the heart of Normance.
Gradually, the Sandworms that had infiltrated the city began to claim lives one by one.
* * *
Annihilation, annihilation, annihilation.
Malphas ground his teeth as he listened to the death cries of crows dying throughout the city.
"Th-this damn...!!"
There was an interfering element.
There was one woman moving as if she had the Demon King Army's tactics completely figured out.
"Witch...!!"
Malphas searched his memory.
Although it had been five hundred years ago, among the red-haired witches, there had been one exceptionally powerful witch.
The Crimson Mage.
That mad 'Hero' who had fluttered blood-red hair and turned everything around her into a fiery hell.
Before her overwhelming power, even the Demon King Army's officers had been helplessly defeated, and Demon King Belphegor had personally stepped forward to subdue the Crimson Mage.
Flames.
Red hair.
It was an image as common as the Hero Bareness, but the red girl riding a wooden staff through the air and intercepting the crows reminded him of that Crimson Mage.
"...Impudent."
She didn't even reach half of the Crimson Mage's level, yet acting as if she were the Crimson Mage herself was the height of insolence.
As if to say that he was not enough, as if mocking and humiliating Malphas, that witch who turned his army into burning trash was unforgivable.
His own failure was Acedia's failure.
Acedia itself mattered little, but the tactics he had used were the Demon King's tactics.
Malphas being insulted was fine.
But the tactics Malphas had used being insulted was not.
"U-woooo!!"
Malphas scattered mana in all directions.
His eyes turned blood-red, the veins across his entire body bulged, and mana began to overflow.
"Glory to Great Demon King Belphegor!!"
SPURT!!
Red blood burst from Malphas's mouth.
Even at the cost of harming his own body, he scattered mana wildly around him and prepared something.
"Come to my side, my legion!!"
WHOOOOOSH!!
A black whirlwind began to surge toward Malphas.
The black whirlwind, which had been scattered like mist, seemed to carry the spirits of crows riding the wind, and the tips of the crows' beaks burrowed into Malphas's flesh.
"I will kill them all, all of them...!! All of them, all...!!"
FLASH.
The black whirlwind connected to Malphas as a massive surge of mana, and Malphas's eyes began to fill with countless pupils, like an insect's compound eyes.
"I am, we are...!!"
SCREEEEEECH!!
Behind Malphas, a giant crow wyvern that had been shimmering like an afterimage began to take physical form.
"Where do you think you're going!!"
"The Magic Beast is transforming! Everyone, pour everything you have into it!!"
The adventurers unleashed their attacks to stop Malphas.
Some mages even used Levitation magic to try to attack Malphas up close, but....
CRUNCH.
The monstrous bird's head stretched out like a hand and chomped down on a mage.
CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!!
What rained down beneath the shadow—there was no need to say.
"U-uaaak!! You bastard!!"
[We, we are...!!]
The monstrous bird, Malphas, roared toward the sky.
[We cannot lose...! Defeat is not permitted!!!]
ROOOOAR!!
Monstrous bird, Malphas. Estimated combat power.
S Rank.
"Wh-where is the Hero?!"
If not for the Hero, this was an opponent no one could dare to overcome.
* * *
"Wow, what a spectacle."
The vengeful spirits of the dead crows gathered into one.
The one presumed to be the boss crow had sacrificed its own life to gather the spirits of thousands of crows into one, creating a massive demonic bird.
"...Spectacle or not, it's vile."
Something my Demon King Army would never have done.
Soul merging.
'How precious is a soul? To merge things that could be recycled just by swapping bodies.'
As someone whose very foundation is a Spirit Body, I could never understand or tolerate that crow's actions.
Not only its own existence, but merging the souls of other crows into one was an act of 'annihilating' every soul that was merged.
Unable to even enter the cycle of reincarnation, simply ceasing to exist—that was truly the worst possible act.
Was it because they were Acedia?
My Demon King Army never did such a thing.
They died gloriously, and that was that.
If a corpse remained, I would revive it as Undead and, depending on their wishes, send them into another body or on to the Netherworld.
-Demon King. Is it true? That if one invokes your name, one can be reborn as the existence they desire.
-That's right. The Goddess of the Netherworld and I are well acquainted, so if I say I sent you, you'll at least be reborn as an intelligent lifeform. Heh heh. What do you want to be reborn as?
-An Elf.
-You want to be born as an enemy?
-By the day I am reborn, my lord will have subjugated all Elves into the Demon King Army, so how could I be an enemy?
-...Heh heh heh, very well. You won't remember, but I will remember you. Let us meet again someday.
-Thank you.... Loyalty! Glory to Demon King Belphegor——!!
'Everyone I introduced and sent down to the Netherworld turned out well.'
The Goddess of the Netherworld desired the souls of strong lifeforms.
Lifeforms who fought in my legion possess spiritually powerful soul energy.
'Because those who have become mentally strong are easier to reincarnate as intelligent beings.'
Then, when that subject went to the Netherworld and entered the cycle of reincarnation, the soul was relatively more likely to be reborn as an intelligent lifeform.
To be reincarnated as an intelligent being, the soul must form a sphere like a brain, and compared to a spirit body that scatters like water, a spirit body with viscosity like liquid or clay is naturally easier.
But thousands of souls merged into one like that?
-Why are you bothering to peel them apart one by one? Just annihilate the whole thing.
The Goddess of the Netherworld would surely erase all of that.
The entire soul would cease to exist.
"...I need to deal with this a little faster."
Even if they were Acedia, they were all fighting for the Demon King.
As a Demon King, I had a moral responsibility for their loyalty.
By killing them.
"Lucius."
I called to him.
With a warm breeze from behind, he landed beside me atop the wall, one knee on the ground.
"...You didn't draw your Holy Sword?"
"Fortunately, it was an enemy I could handle with a sword."
"That means you're drawing out the Holy Sword's power to that extent."
Having leaped from far away as if flying up to the top of the wall, Lucius was now pushing that, what was it, 'Crimson Lotus Rush' power to its limit.
"What about Rosemas?"
"She's cleaning up the Sandworms inside the city."
"Thank her for me. I'll have to help her out separately later."
"Pardon?"
"Just, if the occasion arises. Anyway, look ahead."
WHOOOOOSH.
The giant monstrous bird was slowly taking on physical form.
A mad monstrous bird forged from malice and hatred toward the living, and twisted loyalty.
Its power was beyond comparison to the crows the Mercenary King Bareness had faced before.
"It's not lacking as an opponent."
That was a good thing.
There was a power I had been wanting to test.
"Lucius. Stand in front of me for a moment."
I pulled Lucius to his feet, then placed my hand flat against his lower back.
"Master?!"
"Definitely, one blow. There's a way to finish this without revealing the Holy Sword."
I took out the gem I had received from Bareness.
"Y-you're going to use that?"
"There's nothing better to use in place of my mana. Now then... here we go."
I gripped tightly the gem containing power drawn from the Flame Holy Sword.
"From now on, you and I are using a technique together."
"T-together?"
"Yes."
A technique that any Hero Party could use—that any Hero Party should use.
"A Combination Technique."
Lucius's wind.
My flames.
Combining the two, we would create a crimson gale.