#080 Summoning
#080 Summoning
A thunderous roar echoed out. The entire village seemed to shake from the impact, and even though the Holy Sword's mana held firm, the air trembled as if the shock were being transmitted inward.
"Master!"
"Ah, thanks."
My body was light as a sheet of paper, so I nearly went flying, but Lucius grabbed my shoulders from behind and steadied me.
"Eeek!"
If not for that, I probably would have collapsed to the ground or fallen over just as disgracefully as the others.
Probably.
This body does lower-body exercises every day, but when even the village's able-bodied men were knocked down by that giant's attack, there was no way I could have held out.
"You're... all right."
Rosemas staggered and opened her eyes, but when she saw Lucius supporting me, she looked a little bitter.
I felt bitter too.
Because Lucius should have been holding Rosemas's shoulders, not mine.
'This body's undead, so what does it matter if I roll around on the ground a bit?'
It's a body that can recover with mana anyway, so Lucius is being overprotective.
You could say I'm being ungrateful after he helped me, but still, as someone who wants the young people to get together, I think he should have paid more attention to Rosemas than to me.
And ideally, one more person.
Look.
Over there, the knight radiating jealousy from beneath his helmet.
She'd driven her sword into the ground and held on in a one-kneed stance, so her posture hadn't collapsed, but the moment she saw Lucius protecting me, her composure crumbled.
At that moment, the only people still standing properly were me, Lucius, Rosemas, and Black Lotus.
Most of the villagers had fallen to the ground.
Even the knight Rapid had landed hard on his backside.
"Th-the Great Demon King...!!"
Part of it was their stances being disrupted by the wind pressure, but what startled them most was my existence—the name Belphegor itself.
The name Belphegor—the Great Demon King of evil etched into history, genes, records, and legends—was enough by itself to make humans tremble in fear.
And on top of that, the insect legion that already inspired revulsion had merged into a single colossal golem?
And it had struck the barrier cast by the Holy Sword Hero, even cracking it?
"......."
The villagers weren't the only ones who'd lost their composure here.
The Water Hero, Liliez Caesar Cross, stared up at the steel giant, utterly stunned.
"No, how...?"
"The Holy Sword's power is ultimately just 'power.' If the other side committed more resources, then it's only natural for this side to be pushed back."
If the power Liliez had invested in the Holy Sword barrier was 100, then that giant golem's power was about 110.
Only a difference of about 10, but right now that power clearly exceeded hers.
If Liliez hadn't instinctively reinforced the Holy Sword barrier just before it broke, a hole would definitely have opened in it.
"Blocking it was enough. If the barrier had broken, they would have immediately released the synchronization and poured the insects out."
"How is that...? Master, is that possible?"
"Yes. They're packed together tightly like gears. They have a structure like dragon scales, but each individual scale is a living creature."
In other words, the giant golem had been created through combined synchronization based on the insect golem at the very center.
Except for the steel mixed in, that was Beelzebub's method.
When a massive swarm of up to a million living creatures couldn't overwhelm with sheer numbers, the method was to gather the power of a million into a single entity and crush with quality.
The ability to turn a colony and collective into a single unified entity was also Beelzebub's method.
Having seen something like that, I couldn't help but think a certain thought.
'Has Beelzebub also come here?'
The possibility that Beelzebub had been summoned to the surface just as I had.
Belphegor, notorious as a Great Demon King, had been summoned to the surface, so could I be certain that other Demon Kings hadn't been summoned too?
No.
So far, I had already discovered traces of two Demon Kings.
Mammon and Beelzebub.
Thinking of them brought two possibilities to mind.
One was the case where, like me 500 years ago, they had been summoned to the Middle Realm but maintained their ego, devoured their summoner instead, and preserved their identity as a Demon King.
And the other was the case where, like any ordinary Demonfolk—like what nearly happened to me with Zepar—they had been called by their True Name, their name bound, and they had entered a master-servant contract as a mere familiar.
For a Demon King to be under someone's control is a deeply humiliating blow to their pride, but that's just how a 'True Name Contract' works.
It's like signing a document that carries legal force under the laws of the world.
If I swore through a True Name Contract to become someone's slave, I would have to live as a slave for the rest of my life until the contract's effect expired.
That's what a contract made by being called by one's True Name is, and a True Name must never be carelessly revealed.
Though my case is different.
"Master!!"
While I was lost in thought for a moment, the steel giant had raised its fist high again.
Whoosh!
This time, as if preparing an even stronger attack than before, the beetles were moving in perfect unison around its wrist.
That's—
"A drill!"
CRACKLE!!
Through the cracks in the broken barrier, a drill like a cavalry lance bored its way in.
Unlike a simple cavalry lance, the giant's spear had its tip driven into the barrier and began slowly rotating counterclockwise.
SCREEECH!!
"Wow. Using the beetles' carapaces to shave down the barrier. Not bad."
This one knew how to make things dramatic.
When it came to breaking barriers, overwhelming force was the classic answer.
Smashing it with a fist is the first way, taking time to break the barrier is the second, and the last is blowing away the barrier and everything else entirely.
"H-Hero!!"
"Ngh...!!"
Liliez desperately poured power into her Holy Sword, but she couldn't restore the barrier.
The source of the power that creates the barrier is the Holy Sword, but what maintains the barrier's form is the Holy Sword wielder's concentration.
Seeing that she couldn't cast a perfect hemispherical barrier like mine, Liliez was clearly a Holy Sword wielder with an aggressive disposition rather than one suited to maintaining barriers.
'She's not the Earth Holy Sword Hero, so there's no need for her to devote herself to defense.'
Each Holy Sword has its own specialty.
As I'd seen before, the primary use of Liliez's Water Holy Sword was sweeping things away with water.
Of course, as a Holy Sword wielder, if she used her Holy Sword often, she would naturally develop applied techniques, but Liliez didn't seem to have used her Holy Sword that frequently.
'The basic usage must have been enough for her.'
Until now.
But if the Demon King Army—Acedia—was using the strategies and tactics I, Belphegor, had used, combined with another Demon King's power?
The old methods wouldn't work.
The Heroes needed new tactics and strategies too.
Just like right now.
"Lucius. Watch carefully from now on."
"Huh?"
"I wasn't planning to go this far, but since it's come to this, I'm going to go all out just once."
There was no other choice if we wanted to eliminate that giant.
More precisely, there was no other choice if I wanted to avoid using even a single drop of my mana.
"Master, by 'go all out,' you don't mean your lifespan...?"
"Going all out in a way that doesn't use it."
"...Is there such a thing?"
"That's why I'm about to show you."
I patted Lucius's shoulder, then beckoned him toward me.
Lucius naturally lowered his head toward my shoulder.
Right, of course he should come to me like this.
Though next time, I'd like him to lean down a bit more.
"...Don't you want to see the Hero's true power, just once?"
"......!"
I had to stand on tiptoe to whisper in his ear, but I was able to quietly convey what I wanted to say to Lucius alone.
"So you protect the people. Understood?"
"...Can I trust you?"
"Of course. You can trust me."
I patted Lucius's shoulder, then turned toward Liliez, who was locked in a power struggle to maintain the barrier.
"Push the people back over there with the barrier."
"What?"
"Don't let them get out of the barrier. It'd be a pain if they got caught up in this for no reason."
"...Understood."
"Rather than just withdrawing it—now!"
SWISH—!
Liliez withdrew the barrier without another word.
WHOOOOSH!!
The giant, which had been about to drive its drill into the barrier, swung at empty air as the barrier suddenly vanished.
Its massive body lurched and nearly toppled over, but its arm snapped off at the halfway point, and a newly sprouted arm braced against the ground.
SWISH!
The arm that had shot out from the joint came flying toward us.
The new barrier Liliez created pushed the people in the square back wholesale with a wall of ice, and I stood beside her and placed my hand on her waist.
"!!"
Liliez flinched violently in surprise, but I drew out her power through the hand on her waist.
"In the name of 'Azure.'"
The Water Holy Sword, which had been about to reject me like Flamberge, immediately recognized who I was and lent its power to me.
"No way, this is..."
"It's not an awakening. I'm simply awakening something within the power you already possess that you haven't realized yet."
"No, Witch, your hair...?"
"It's being dyed with the color of the mana."
Because I was now using a portion of the mana dwelling in the Water Holy Sword, different from the Crimson Mage's.
Hair like the blue sea, like the color of water.
It was a little awkward since it now resembled Liliez's color, but it wasn't strange.
Just as the Fire Hero Bareness had red hair, Liliez's hair was blue as well.
...The Wind Hero Lucius's case, with his golden color, was a bit different, and the other Heroes followed the color of their Holy Swords.
Because that mana dwells in their hair.
In other words, the mana now dwelling in my body was the Holy Sword's mana.
"I'll keep the explanation short, but answer clearly. What is your reason for wanting to obtain strong power?"
"...I..."
"Short."
SCREEECH!!
The giant hand trying to seize us picked us up, barrier and all.
The insects gnawed at the ice wall in real time, and the steel giant extended its arm toward the captured hand and reattached it to its original body.
Scritch, scritch, scritch.
If we stayed still, the insects would gnaw through the entire barrier.
Even if we cast a barrier here, if Liliez's mana were cut off from the outside, the others would be in danger.
"Lucius can't produce as much power as you can. But I can't just hand power over to you recklessly. So what will you do now? If it comes down to it, I could just take Lucius and the others and run away."
"What about the villagers?"
"Look. How many people do you think died 500 years ago? Not everyone can survive."
A firm proposal.
A serious voice.
"Sometimes we had to cut things away decisively. Only then could we defeat the Demon King Army, defeat the Demon King."
"...I refuse."
Liliez bit her lower lip and glared at me.
"If I can save them, I'll save everyone. That's—"
"That's it, Liliez."
Pat, pat.
I lightly patted her on the hip and relaxed my expression.
"You pass the test. However, awakening you to a stronger state than now is postponed. That will come after trust forms between you and me."
"Th-then...?"
"I'll release the power you haven't awakened even at your current awakening stage. A little—a very special power."
A power that had completely vanished from modern history.
The true power of the Holy Sword that had once been needed to put a stop to the Great Demon King Belphegor.
"Spirit Machine."
Come on.
"Come forth, Celsius."
