The Incubus Hides His Kindness #4
The Incubus Hides His Kindness #4
"Just as I thought, he has to be inside the theater."
With each passing moment, suspicion hardened into certainty. After all, the Mage Hand climbing endlessly through the stairways never once strayed outside the building.
Though it occasionally veered off course and bumped into a wall, the Mage Hand unmistakably kept ascending higher.
"This is the top. There's nowhere left to go."
The Mage Hand finally came to a stop on the theater's 4th floor.
You could call it the very top of the grand theater.
Glancing around, Rebecca wore a look of pure puzzlement.
"I already checked this whole area earlier. The costume room is right downstairs."
"There might be a place you missed."
"You think so?"
The Mage Hand drifted leisurely toward the end of the 4th-floor corridor. At the corridor's end, Rebecca and I arrived at a vast storage room. A place where huge metal shelving units stood packed densely, obstructing the view. The shelves were crammed full of props used in the theater's performances.
The Mage Hand kept flying forward through the storage room aisles.
Then, at some point, it froze in mid-air.
And as if losing all power, it dropped limply to the floor.
Thud.
A Mage Hand falling to the floor meant its owner was nearby. Which meant there was a mage somewhere in this storage room who should have retrieved it.
But as I scanned the theater's storage room, I couldn't help but feel bewildered.
Rebecca whispered to me in a small voice.
"I can't see anything. There's no one here!"
The metal shelves obstructed the view, but peering through the gaps to the other side was possible. Yet no matter how long I stood still and looked around, there was no sign of anyone. The pure-white mask Michelle had mentioned was nowhere to be seen.
'What's going on here?'
Was what I read in the spellbook wrong?
Didn't Mage Hand automatically track its owner?
"......."
I took a deep breath and slowly scanned the interior of the storage room again. Moving without a sound, I shifted positions and visually checked every single object without exception.
A large storage room lined with massive metal shelving.
But the shelves weren't the only things in the room. By the window, a heap of dolls and such were piled high, and along the wall, about ten cabinets stood arranged without a gap. Nothing seemed to be hiding among the gaps in the pile of dolls.
If so, the only suspicious things left in this storage room were the cabinets.
I pointed a finger at the cabinets so Rebecca could see. I wanted to explain with words, but I couldn't. My voice might be heard by the masked intruder. Fortunately, Rebecca seemed to grasp the meaning of my pointing.
Rebecca parted her lips and mouthed a word.
It's our chance-!
I understood what she was trying to say. If the masked stalker was hiding inside a cabinet right now, he was definitely defenseless. In that cramped space, a person could only hide by pressing their body completely flat. That meant he couldn't hold a weapon or form hand seals with both hands.
If we found the stalker hiding in a cabinet.
We'd just open the door and stab him, and it'd be over!
The initiative was ours since we had already drawn our longsword and curved blade. I exchanged glances with Rebecca and walked toward the wall. Peering into the gaps of the cabinets, I advanced without a sound.
There were ten cabinets lined up against the wall.
Checking the contents was simple. The cabinet doors had several thin slits in them. If I focused and peered inside, finding a hidden person would be quick work.
Swish-.
As I crept forward, muffling any noise, I clenched my jaw. With every step I took, my heart pounded fit to burst. It felt like the thumping of my heart might be heard by the stalker hiding in the storage room. I gripped the hilt of my longsword as tightly as my heart was pounding.
Ready to cut down anyone who burst out from a cabinet.
'Nothing.'
I reached the third cabinet.
'Nothing here either.'
I reached the sixth cabinet.
'We're nearly at the end.'
And then I reached the ninth cabinet.
Of course, there was no one inside that one either.
Finally, Rebecca and I halted a short distance from the last, tenth cabinet.
Only one cabinet remained now!
If the intruder was hiding, there was nowhere else he could be. Holding my breath, I raised my longsword.
A small teddy bear among the pile by the window stared at me with an ominous glint in its eye. I was afraid, but I couldn't back down. This was my only chance to kill the stalker with a single strike.
Ssk-.
The moment Rebecca signaled with a jerk of her chin!
I lunged forward and yanked open the cabinet door. As the door swung open with a rattling sound, I thrust my sword into the dark gap. At the same time, Rebecca's curved blade carved a vertical slash through the gloomy interior.
Stab—!!
"......!"
The sensation of stabbing something traveled up my hand. But the moment the light from the window illuminated the inside of the cabinet, I couldn't help but open my eyes wide. What I had stabbed wasn't a person. It was a doll.
There were only dolls inside the cabinet.
Dolls now stabbed, slashed, and torn to pieces.
"Nothing."
"He wasn't hiding in the storage room?"
It was the moment Rebecca and I both spoke at once.
Right then, a sound echoed from behind us.
My eyes flew open and I whipped my head around.
The sound came from the direction of the dolls piled by the window!
A large teddy bear buried among the heap of dolls!
With a deafening bang like a balloon popping, the huge teddy bear exploded.
The stuffing packed inside scattered in all directions. The instant the teddy bear burst, a person lunged out from within it. I could only stare at the figure with a horrified expression.
A pure-white mask covered the face!
A man with a massive build wearing a trench coat!
It was definitely the stalker Michelle had described!
"━━━━━━!!!"
The Masked Man let out a roar at Rebecca and me. Reacting to his provocation, Rebecca raised her curved blade and charged forward.
"N-no, don't! Stop!"
"W-what do you mean?!"
I quickly shouted, trying to stop Rebecca. I had seen through it—this was the Masked Man's trap. But Rebecca, unable to overcome her momentum, kept rushing forward.
Toward the Masked Man, who finished weaving a complex hand seal with his fingers.
"—Rope Trick."
The moment a deep voice flowed from behind the pure-white mask.
A long rope shot out from under the Masked Man's trench coat. Backpedaling, the Masked Man hurled the rope at Rebecca. The rope, wriggling in the air like a snake, bound Rebecca in the blink of an eye.
"Rebecca!"
"Ugh!"
Rebecca rolled across the floor and slammed her body into the wall by the window. Her fallen curved blade lodged itself in the pile of dolls.
Rebecca strained to untie the rope, but it was no use. The more she struggled, the tighter the magically-infused rope constricted her body.
'Do I need to save her?'
I glared at the Masked Man, gripping my longsword. Just as Michelle's information had said, the Masked Man was panting heavily after using magic. But his massive frame made it impossible to act rashly. With a body like that, he could likely exert brute force rivaling my own.
'Fuck! If he was this huge, you should've fucking told me! He's not a mage, he's a warrior who can use magic!'
I'd imagined some scrawny, frail mage when they said he used magic.
But out pops this masked hulk!
Facing my visible dismay, the Masked Man opened his mouth.
Maybe he had a screw loose in his head; he kept giggling every time he spoke.
"Kek, kekekek."
"What the fuck are you laughing at, you piece of shit."
"I'll kill anyone who gets in the way of my love for Michelle! Kek, kikikikik-kyakyakyak."
As expected of a stalker, his mental state was far from normal. Just looking at his classic flasher trench coat getup gave me the creeps.
He wasn't going to open that coat and reveal a smooth naked body, was he?
I didn't get a good look when he pulled out the rope earlier, but I had no desire to see some bastard's dick!
"Taste my magic-ic-ic-ic-ic!"
The Masked Man, still panting, began forming hand seals aimed at me. Was he planning to use magic again?
But if this turned into a magic duel, I would definitely win!
He was the kind of mage who got exhausted after using just one basic spell like Rope Trick!
"Fine! A magic duel, is it?"
I faced the Masked Man and formed a hand seal. I sheathed my longsword at my side and began the work of drawing out a mana sphere. The casting speed for a mana sphere was faster than that of Water Whip.
But seeing me forming hand seals, the Masked Man started shrieking.
"M-m-m-m-m-m-m-mage! A wandering magician!!"
"That's right."
"We wandering magicians don't do magic duels-aaaaagh!"
"What the fuck are you talking about!"
Shrieking, the Masked Man charged at me with all his might.
Abandoning his hand seals, the bastard pulled two daggers from inside his coat.
He aimed the daggers, one in each hand, at my body.
"You said to taste your magic, you lying son of a bitch...!!"
"Kehehehet, I'll give you a taste of my blade instead of magic!"
The event had just changed from a magic duel to a knife fight!
I had no choice but to draw the longsword I'd tucked under my arm. Abandoning my hand seal, I swung the longsword at the Masked Man. My body was about to get carved up before I could even form a mana sphere.
"Y-you cowardly bastard."
"Give me those hands!"
The Masked Man cowardly focused his attacks on my hands. Hands that are like life itself to a mage.
The bastard seemed obsessed with turning me into a magic cripple.
I swung my longsword to keep the Masked Man in check.
But every time I swung my blade, I couldn't help but wonder.
'Why are two mages stabbing at each other with swords?'
Was this a duel between wandering magicians?!
I couldn't find a flashy magic battle here even if I washed my eyes out and looked again!
But whether it was a magic duel or whatever, I had to save my own life first. I retreated and swung my longsword menacingly. It's a universal truth that the longer a weapon's reach, the greater the advantage in a fight. The Masked Man, who had been pressing the attack, gradually slowed down.
'This might be doable?'
His terrifying entrance had spooked me for a moment.
But now that we were clashing directly, he wasn't on a level that overwhelmed me. The Masked Man's build was impressive, but I, who possessed Geum Tae-yang's body, was no slouch in strength either. Before I knew it, I was swinging my longsword and slowly pushing forward. The Masked Man shrieked and retreated. I, who had been on the defensive, had somehow seized the offensive.
"That damned longsworrrrrd."
"Carry a bigger weapon, you fucker—!!"
But advancing didn't mean I could land a decisive blow. Having never properly learned swordsmanship, my movements were awkward somewhere. With an agility unbefitting his bulk, the Masked Man deftly dodged the trajectory of my sword.
I needed a trump card to take this Masked Man down.
A trump card to defeat a wandering magician—!
'That's it. That'll work!'
I chanted a spell toward the Masked Man before my eyes.
"Fireball—."
I just randomly yelled out the name of a spell I'd never even learned. In that instant, the Masked Man's eyes flew wide open and he stared at my hands. At the hands that gripped the longsword yet still formed something resembling a hand seal.
"F-fireball?!- How can you use an advanced spell like thaaaaaat—"
An opening appeared in a flash.
I hadn't expected him to take the bait so easily!
I slashed the frozen Masked Man with my longsword.
A line of blood was drawn across his chest and blood spurted out.
Beyond the stark white mask, his eyes trembled violently.
"Graaaaaaaagh."
Screaming, the Masked Man rolled across the floor!
With seemingly no tolerance for pain, the Masked Man dropped his daggers and writhed on the ground. The feeling of cutting fairly deep meant it was definitely a critical hit.
"Aaagh! Y-you tricked me!!"
The Masked Man glared at me with eyes full of hatred.
But even under that gaze, I didn't feel particularly pricked by my conscience.
Because I had intended to use a fireball on him, just as I'd said.
Even if it was a spell I'd never learned, I could use it now.
"—I said to watch out for the Fireball!"
I raised my clenched fist.
And slammed it down between the Masked Man's legs with all my might.
A loud sound echoed from inside the trench coat.
The sound of his fireballs bursting—!!