Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Wow, Rewards are Pouring Out! (4)
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Just as Zekiel was slowly closing his eyelids.
Drdrdrdr—!
Suddenly, the entire Thorn Forest began to rumble.
A few pitch-black trees writhed and transformed into demons, with ominous demonic energy rising thick in the air.
Zekiel and his group's expressions turned urgent in an instant.
"D-D-Demons!"
"There are way too many of them!"
They weren't naive rookies, so even as they spat out desperate words, their bodies swiftly formed up into formation.
Black Tower Lord Greta silently prepared for battle as well, and Anes directed a question her way.
"...Seeing how you're not flustered, this must be an everyday occurrence here. Is the Thorn Forest always like this?"
"Demons appearing is common enough, but not in numbers this absurd. I've never seen the forest react this violently before."
Her voice was deadly serious, so it didn't seem like a lie. Everyone present could feel the Thorn Forest reacting with unprecedented ferocity.
And one more thing—the demons were far, far too numerous.
Ether shuddered on her shoulders.
"I-Is it because the Inspector froze the forest earlier? Did it make the Thorn Forest super mad?"
"No."
Greta shook her head firmly.
"If you listen closely, you can hear the forest whispering. This isn't anger. Or rather..."
Greta tilted her head.
Her face showed she couldn't believe what she was sensing.
"...It's happy. Like it's finally found something it's been desperately searching for. That's how it feels to me."
Zekiel clicked his tongue.
"I was hoping we could pass through peacefully, but nope."
"...Inspector, what now?"
"What do you mean, what? We fight."
.
.
.
.
Kwabang—! Kwang—!
The battle dragged on for quite a while.
Kuwooung! Thud!
The Thorn Forest turned into a battlefield exploding with magic from all directions, the fight raging fiercely. Zekiel's group had the superior combat power, but the problem was, as always, the numbers.
Zekiel jerked his chin.
"I'll handle this area. Go support the Black Tower Lord."
"Sounds like the right call. I heard she's normally incredibly powerful, but she looks shaky after burning so much life force. I'll head over."
It was right then, as Anes nodded calmly.
"...And who the hell are you to speak the Great Witch's name?"
An unfamiliar voice.
Green-haired girls were glaring at them from who-knows-where they'd appeared.
It wasn't hard to figure out. They were the frogs that had been near Greta, now in their true forms.
'Knew those weren't ordinary frogs.'
The amazing part was the sheer demonic power each one possessed. Their auras far surpassed that of ordinary mages.
Zekiel responded leisurely.
"No need to take it so badly. We were just trying to help."
"The Yellow Tower's obsessed with suppressing the Black Tower. You expect us to buy that? You're probably after Greta's weaknesses."
Kwang—! Kwabang—!
The battle continued after that.
Even as they were pushed back by the demons and struggling, the frog-girls refused Zekiel's group's help out of sheer spite.
'Guess that's how the Yellow Tower's viewed publicly.'
Zekiel thought quietly.
'The Yellow Tower intervening' often implied there was something to criticize—and something to correct and punish.
So most people got offended just by their interest alone.
The frog-girls grumbled a few more times after that.
"They're after Greta's secret techniques too."
"They'll poke around, steal everything, then later fabricate some ridiculous weakness to pressure her. No conscience at all."
During the fight, Seina furrowed her brow as she listened.
"...Those things are more annoying than the demons. Master, want me to go educate them? With a good beating?"
"Hold back."
"Lady Anes, you're saying that while looking away?"
The already bad battlefield situation got tangled with this petty bickering. As the unpleasant tension dragged on.
Long silhouettes approached. Three of them.
They were demons modeled after elite assassins—cloaked head to toe in black demonic energy robes, covered in all sorts of hidden weapons.
The one in the middle spoke.
"Leave only the target. Sweep the rest."
At the same time, the two on either side kicked off the ground.
Whoosh—!
Their movements were too fast for the eye to follow.
"Th-They're strong...!"
"Watch out!"
Just two more joining made a huge difference. Even the frog-girls voiced their alarm.
And the central elite demon drew its twin blades of demonic energy and began advancing. No eyes, but it was clearly heading straight for Zekiel.
"Found you. Finally found you. Heh heh heh..."
Zekiel quietly asked Greta.
"This one new to you too?"
"Yeah. They're beyond even high-rank demons. No idea why they'd come all the way to the Thorn Forest."
"Why?"
Zekiel chuckled dryly.
"Guess I'll find out right now."
Thud—!
At the same time, Zekiel kicked off powerfully.
His mana-charged legs launched his body like a beam of light. The distance to the elite demon harassing the frog-girls closed in a flash.
"...!"
The thing whipped its head around urgently, but.
Its body hadn't turned yet.
"What're you looking at?"
Slash—!
Zekiel's ice-edged hand sliced straight through its neck. One down already.
The remaining two elite demons hurled themselves this way, nonstop firing hidden weapons forged from demonic energy.
Zekiel didn't bother counterattacking.
He conjured a massive cubic ice block, then smashed it with all his might using his fist.
Kaaaaang—!
The shattered cube's fragments scattered like shotgun pellets, turning one demon into Swiss cheese outright and blasting a huge hole through the other's upper body.
The one with the hole in its chest slowly looked down at its torso, then slowly knelt and collapsed.
"Su... per... Snow... Ghoul..."
That's when Zekiel's mind caught it.
This thing had definitely said "Snow Ghoul."
The area was cleared now. The demonic energy itself had thinned, and aside from a few frog-girls, no serious injuries.
The frog-girls cautiously gathered around.
"...We were rude."
"We didn't recognize a noble guest."
"Thank you for saving us."
They'd switched attitudes and were polite now, but Zekiel hadn't cared much to begin with.
Right—the issue was in this elite demon's mouth.
Zekiel grabbed the elite demon by the scruff of the neck, loaded mana into his legs again, and kicked off the ground.
Whoosh—!
The distance from the group opened up in an instant. Time for a private chat and intel extraction.
He roughly laid the thing on the ground and demanded.
"Reveal your identity."
"Heh..."
It just grinned.
"Heh... heh heh heh... heh heh ha! Ha ha ha ha!"
As Zekiel gave up and moved to crush its skull, the elite demon spat out something unexpected.
"Snow Ghoul... We found the Snow Ghoul itself... How happy will our Goddess be? Ah, my Goddess..."
It bared its teeth in a laugh.
"You! You never sent letters to the Goddess. How could you commit such blasphemy? Rejecting the very Goddess you should love most! How dare you!"
"...What the hell are you talking about?"
Its pitch-black face revealed stark white teeth—a pretty grotesque sight—but Zekiel watched with utter calm.
"The Goddess has long searched for you, wanting to know why you never wrote. Finding you completes our mission. Soon, the Goddess herself will come to take you...!"
"Goddess?"
"Yes, the Goddess's dearest wish is the Snow Ghoul. The Goddess will bear the Snow Ghoul's child. So accept it. Accept it. You must accept!"
Suddenly, it sprang up and threw its arms in the air.
"The Goddess descends! Ah! Goddess—!"
Splat—!
Zekiel smashed its head.
Thanks to that, it became a corpse frozen mid-victory pose, and Zekiel stared at it thoughtfully.
"...Goddess?"
Nothing came to mind.
Sure, there might be demons in the Demon Realm harboring grudges against him, but what the elite demon said had too many odd nuances.
Stuff about not writing letters, her coming personally to fetch him, bearing his child...
What the hell did any of it mean?
The rest of the group belatedly caught up.
"Master! What happened?"
"Inspector, what's going on?"
"..."
Zekiel stayed silent for a moment.
Then shook his head.
"I was hoping to get some info, but no dice."
He kept the Goddess talk buried in his chest.
Goddess, Goddess, Goddess... Just who the hell was this Goddess?
'No way...'
Suddenly, a face flashed in his mind.
The 0th Princess handed over to the Demon Realm crossed his thoughts briefly.
But he quickly shook his head.
'Nah.'
No way that was it.