Chapter 152
Chapter 152
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: The Baelrisor Great River Basin
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Baelrisor Great River Basin—known as the "Lungs of Flame"—was famous for its vast economic zone stretching from upstream to downstream.
This river, curving grandly through the southern part of the Arkrad Continent toward the sea, connected the Northern Republic via its waterways.
The Fire Dragon's Shrine Maiden, Fride, had explained it that way long ago.
Riverboats carried mountain goods down to the sea, while ocean ships brought marine products up to the mountains, keeping the Baelrisor Basin perpetually bustling and prosperous.
<Olltaris> was a fishing village located upstream where this riverine economic zone began, and even in the early dawn, the village outskirts were incredibly lively.
"......"
But the moment I entered the village—no, even before that—I felt a nauseating twist in my gut, a profound sense of wrongness.
Wrongness?
No, more like déjà vu?
But what kind of déjà vu? As I followed Miria across the stone bridge toward the Olltaris guild branch, that unpleasant sensation revealed its true nature.
"Huh."
It started with a man brushing past me so close that his collar snagged mine, flashing a sinister smile.
Had my heart even beaten twice?
Instinctively, the moment I fully crossed the bridge, I stopped in my tracks.
He halted too, about twenty paces away, at the far end of the bridge. And with that, the world began to slow to a standstill.
"Come on, cheap ones out......"
"Hey, hey......"
"Mom, I mean......"
The fishermen haggling over fish prices at the market, the kids running wildly through the alleys, the mother and daughter whispering amiably.
One by one, one by one.
Everything cut off as if it had all been a fabricated illusion, plunging the village into an eerie, deathly silence.
"What are you stopping for back there?"
Miria, who had been walking ahead and explaining the village to Aki, turned back, her voice the only one echoing in this frozen world.
Aki, sensing something off, shuddered violently, clung tightly to Miria, and bared her fangs.
About five seconds in, cold sweat beaded on my brow and trickled down my nose just as he let out a chuckle.
"Heh heh heh heh, impressive. You still remember this senior's mana."
Then, from the alley on his right, a woman in a dark blue robe stepped out.
She sensually caressed a writhing, living whip, a playful smile on her lips. Among her comrades, she was known as Number 4.
"Whoa~ What a surprisingly cute face. Too much of a waste to kill."
Blocking our retreat, a black witch appeared behind us—her robe's folds absurdly oversized for her frame.
Designed for slipping on and off in seconds, she bore the number 5, bestowed by the great Tureina.
"We're on a mission, Belita. Cut the weird stuff."
"I know~ I'm just saying."
That was the trigger, and everything exploded in an instant.
Witches in red conical hats burst through the dawn veil, surrounding us and menacingly aiming their brooms.
If that had been all, I wouldn't have been surprised. But the fishermen who had been gutting fish moments ago staggered toward us with their gutting knives, and the kids from the alleys approached clutching sharp stones.
"Thanks, Goblin Slayer. For bringing the target as per our contract. I'll double the pay. Triple it if you wanna play instead of sleeping."
He winked at Miria over my shoulder.
I didn't turn around.
Miria fell silent for a moment, assessing the situation, then tilted her head and replied coldly.
"What are you talking about? Who are you?"
"No way, why are you acting like this all of a sudden? Between us."
"Hey, you might not believe me, but I've never made a deal with a guy like that. The one I told you about was—"
As Miria desperately protested, I didn't grill him for details. Instead, I glanced back over my shoulder and smirked.
Just like that.
Long ago, when Rista had done the same to me.
"—I know all about it. Don't worry."
Before the words even finished, I focused my mana through my eyes. The dim dawn world lost its colors, turning into streams of numbers.
Clearly visible now were the unholy tendrils—not quite tentacles—coiling around people's brains and souls, invisible to normal eyes. Third-rank possession spirits.
Back then, erasing twenty would have been exhausting; now, I could obliterate a hundred at once and still have mana to spare.
"Bell Quirius."
Space trembled faintly around me, then red waves exploded outward. Soundless screams erupted from all directions.
The possession spirits jammed into eye sockets, nostrils, and mouths—covered in vile mucus and membranes—were instantly engulfed in transcendent flames and wailed.
The moment the wave of fire touched them, people collapsed one after another onto the stone pavement like puppets with cut strings.
'Seven possession spells......?'
'In one go?'
No sooner had Number 5 flung off her robe than her body ballooned massively, sprouting fur and claws as drool spilled from her grotesque maw.
"I'll handle this one—go!"
As Miria drew her sword and shouted, the boy charged forward while thrusting his hand into the air.
Ancient flames that burned through dimensional darkness formed into three spears. Target: one—Number 7, the master of the possession spirits.
The gap closed in a flash; as he planted his foot, channeling inertia, waist power, and arm strength into one to crush the bastard's skull.
Whirrrrr!
A sharp crack through the air, and suddenly something coiled around my neck.
"Looking away, are we?!"
The force yanked me toward the outer wall, choking me—a sickening crack from my cervical vertebrae.
I might have died right there.
If, in that split second, I hadn't looked down and used Bell Quirius to twist the eerie glow emanating from that whip.
"Huh? The curse just vanished?"
Bell Quirius nullifies abilities but doesn't affect physical objects. So the whip yanking me to snap my neck remained intact.
"D-Dod—Dodododge—!"
The instant I rasped it out, the sun parrot guarding Aki over there unfurled fiery wings and charged the whip's owner.
"What the hell is this bird?!"
Distracted by Pipi's counterattack, her whip grip loosened slightly.
That gap.
That one instant.
As I slipped free of the whip, I shattered the magic circle on my palm—shhhk—flames raced snake-like along it toward the hand gripping the handle.
"—!"
Second Form: Wolf.
A stance priming lethal strike.
He lowered the spear tip, kicked off the ground, swatted the returning whip, then instantly shattered another circle on his palm.
Prison of annihilation flames deployed at the targeted coordinates—no escape.
The moment the bastard began chanting to counter, the spear thrust full force, piercing her throat and slamming her into the outer wall with a thud.
The final throes vibrated up the spear to my palm, then snapped off.
"Pathetic junior. Trying to save worthless idiots when your own neck's on the block?"
In that instant, four magic circles wove together on Number 7's palms—faster than anything I'd ever seen in my life.
"You could've swept the area with those flames and taken us all out."
I couldn't believe my eyes.
Double-casting fourth-rank magic? That fast?
"Not worthy by a long shot. A guy swayed by shallow emotions doesn't deserve those eyes."
With a squelching pop as the circles activated, viscous slime of revolting hue bound my limbs and choked me while a foul-smelling orb hurtled toward me.
"What matters for a mage is selfishly cold rationality!"
Each drip from the orb made the stone road spew eerie steam and melt.
Strong enough to dissolve human flesh in seconds, no doubt.
Just as my breathing recovered, it choked again; blood flow cut to my brain, I couldn't pierce the two spells with Bell Quirius......
Only one way left.
Close to desperation, but in a fraction of a second, this was the only option.
Mana deployment.
The sensation of spreading mana outward...... drawing the infinite power surging within, the frenzied source of transcendence, out into the world.
Just like Shar'kas had done before, overlaying the exact image onto reality. No technique or skill needed—just simple, overwhelming force crushing down.
In that instant, the dimension around me warped amid countless heat hazes, and primordial flames whirled like a storm, incinerating the unholy power about to engulf me.
"Hm......?!"
The force that had shaken the area oxidized to ash in a lie, massive heat swirling. Number 7 narrowed his eyes, arms raised before his face against the blaze.
"A flame storm......?"
That bastard hadn't cast any spell just now. He couldn't have.
So what the hell was that?
Mana deployed as flame? That moment of shock decided it.
"—?!"
Jeseo Chaeryeon. Pristine flame chains erupted from the ground, piercing Number 7's soul. Runes etched on the chains bound all abilities and power.
"This is......"
That spell the clever junior from three hundred years ago used...... Died by my hand in the end, but still a shame.
'Come to think of it, everything's off from one to ten......'
This kid, a follower of Lin?
Using sealing arts, that spell—though as far as I know, only Tureina knew how to use it?
She taught it only to that greenhorn Ribarden, made via human body alchemy......
Kaaaaang!
Meanwhile, on the far side of the bridge where claws and blades clashed amid showers of sparks, Number 5—in beast form—narrowed her eyes.
Number 4 dead, 7 neutralized...... Here, she had no choice but to prioritize the goal given by Him.
She shattered Goblin Slayer's sword with her claws, then kicked off the ground, launching toward the whimpering, crawling hatchling that Miria had set down at the fight's start.
With beast-amplified leg strength, one step to secure the hatchling, three more to escape the village.
The hatchling couldn't resist, nor could the dragon's guardian or that Goblin Slayer match this speed......?
Her face slammed into the ground.
Miria had thrown a hooked chain, snaring her—unbelievable. Overpower this form? A mere silver-rank adventurer?
No, wait.
Something's wrong. Very wrong.
Her body—the flesh transformed by curse—had reverted to human shape unnoticed. Flames invisible and unquenchable surged from her lungs in agony.
The last thing she saw was a shimmering mass of gold, red, and crimson before her. Rain's hurled spear crushed her skull, splattering brains everywhere.
The spear then devoured the head in flames, scattering red particles as it vanished.
"Ah, ah, auuuugh......!"
"Aki! It's okay, it's okay."
Only after seeing Miria scoop up the sobbing Aki and soothe her did relief wash over me in a breath.
Knee buckling from the strain, but with everything settled, I had leisure to turn to the bastard bound soul-first in the chains.
Steadying my slightly ragged breath, I said.
"Before I kill you, I've got a few questions."