Chapter 15
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Demon Adversary
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Luon looked at the grotesque symbol of three black, red, and yellow hands tangled together and recalled Amella's story. He spoke.
"Are you another one of that Belducias-whatever's minions?"
"Do not speak his name so carelessly."
The man took his hand away from his face. Blood trickled from a gash across his angular, stubbled face. Licking the blood away with his tongue, the man muttered.
"Impressive skill. A warrior who can cut through a spear, not just an arrow... I wondered why Salvator died. Now I see why."
Luon shrugged.
"I suppose you're here for revenge?"
"Me?"
The man laughed coarsely.
"What do I care if that damned bastard lives or dies?"
"Then is it because of this?"
Luon took the stone tablet from his tunic, and the man's face immediately flushed. Seeing the man's gaze, gleaming with desire, fixated on the tablet, he put it away again.
The man said.
"That is not something for you to possess. Hand it over quietly, and I'll grant you a painless death."
*Almost got his face sliced in half, and he's still running his mouth.*
Luon scoffed inwardly at the man and raised his holy sword. The man grinned at the sight.
"You'll regret not killing me with that last attack. I'll make you realize, to your very bones, that it was your last chance."
As he spoke, an ominous light emanated from the man's forehead. At the same time, his body began to grow larger. Coarse hair sprouted from his hypertrophied, muscular arms, which tore through his clothes, and sharp claws grew from his fingertips...
Before they could finish growing, Luon charged.
The gleaming holy sword severed a thick arm in a single stroke. The man, whose vocal cords must have been in mid-transformation, let out a scream that was more like an animal's roar. Closing the distance further, Luon slammed his shoulder into the man's chest.
Having lost an arm, the man couldn't maintain his balance. As he fell, Luon mounted him and plunged the holy sword down with both hands. Still growing in size, the man resisted by swinging his other hand, but when the holy sword sank deep into his palm, he writhed in agony and his mouth gaped open. It wasn't to scream; black flames spewed from below his elongated snout. But Luon, who had already locked his thighs firmly against his opponent's side, arched his back like a bow to evade the attack. He then used that momentum to bring his clasped fists down with all his might.
*Crack!*
His fist crushed the skull, smashing the soft tissues within before hitting the ground. Shaking off the blood and gore from his fist, Luon stood up, looked at the half-transformed monster's face, and said.
"Who said I'd wait for you to transform?"
He was only a tricky opponent when he was flinging spears from a distance. In a direct confrontation like this, Luon had no trouble with him. It was a huge help that the fool had decided to transform on his own. Who in their right mind would just stand there and watch someone obviously trying to power up?
"What's this?"
As Luon went to pull his sword from the man's arm, his eyes widened when a faint light began to leak from the stag-shaped pommel.
The radiance seeped into the man's body and drew out a jet-black smoke. Soon, the radiance devoured the black smoke, swelled in size, and seeped back into the pommel. At that moment, a short phrase surfaced in Luon's mind as he held the sword's hilt, and it settled there.
[Demon Adversary]
As the new ability formed, Luon felt a tingling sensation. It was the process of internalizing something he had not realized until now.
Luon immediately drew the holy sword. He closed his eyes. A faint light began to emanate from it. He swung the translucent, light-infused blade toward the ground. A large boulder lying on the ground split in two as if it were tofu.
"Yes, now *this* is a holy sword."
Luon smiled. He was like a child folding his tongue for the first time, having just awakened to the sensation of resonating with the holy sword. For now, he had to intentionally focus to bring it out, but he knew this process would become natural with time.
"Aaaargh!"
Just then, a shout came from behind him. Turning his head, he saw Kyle running up the hill with his shield held in front of him. He bounded up as if the shield weren't heavy at all, then looked back and forth between the corpse sprawled on the ground and Luon standing beside it before speaking.
"...Is it over?"
"As you can see. What happened on your end?"
"If you mean the big beast, we just killed it."
"Good work."
Kyle shook his head at the praise.
"It wasn't me; Lady Amella did everything. I stayed well back so I wouldn't interfere with her magic. I tried to block any incoming spears, but they were all flying toward you, Sir Luon."
Amella, who had just reached the top of the hill, responded to his awkward reply.
"Thanks to you, I was able to focus entirely on killing that beast. You did well, Kyle."
Patting Kyle on the shoulder, Amella turned to Luon and asked.
"Are you all right?"
"No problems here."
"To handle him all by yourself. As expected, you're amazing."
Amella immediately approached the dead man. As she peered at the corpse with its shattered head, Luon scratched his own.
"He had the same symbol on his forehead as Salvator... but I don't see it now."
Amella gave a silent laugh at his words.
"I know. The beasts from before were artificially modified by Belducias's magic. However..."
She trailed off, retracting the hand she had been extending toward the corpse.
"From this bastard, who seems to be their master, I can't feel any of Belducias's magic. No, it would be more accurate to say it's far too faint. Do you have any idea why?"
Luon tapped the holy sword's pommel with his finger and replied.
"This thing sucked up some black smoke. I'm guessing it has something to do with that."
Amella stared intently at the holy sword, then nodded as if her question had been answered.
"The silver stag that symbolizes Tivela... I heard about it from the villagers, but I see that sword is a genuine holy sword. Yes, if that's the case, I can understand."
Luon nudged the man's severed arm with his foot and said.
"Judging by the way he was talking before he died, he was clearly after the tablet. Even so, I'm not sure how he knew our exact location and managed to follow us."
At his words, Amella held out her hand.
"Can I see the tablet for a moment?"
"Here."
Taking the tablet Luon offered, Amella placed her palm on it with a solemn expression. So far, it was no different from yesterday, but this time her lips moved. As she chanted unintelligible words, as if speaking in tongues, her hand began to glow brightly. As if on cue, crimson sparks erupted from the tablet. But Amella, seemingly expecting this, did not back down and chanted the spell faster and louder.
"De-Melium-Assentad!"
A dazzling light exploded. Kyle squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away, but Luon, though frowning, kept his gaze fixed. He could see the white light suppressing the viciously surging sparks.
The light subsided. Amella staggered for a moment, then swept her hair back. The cold sweat trickling down her forehead and neck hinted at how much power she had expended. Luon asked.
"Did you find anything?"
Amella nodded.
"Yes. Unfortunately, it's not good news."
She chewed her lip silently as if organizing her thoughts, then turned to the two men watching her.
"The power of Belducias contained in the fragment is greater than I thought. If I didn't know its origin was the Philosopher's Stone, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to think it was a holy relic of Belducias. The power within it is that malevolent."
Luon silently glanced down at the holy sword at his hip, and Amella shook her head.
"If you're thinking of breaking it, you'd better not. Setting aside the fact that it's a fragment of the Philosopher's Stone, doing so would drive us all insane on the spot."
*She saw right through me.* Luon shrugged at Amella's firm words.
"Perhaps... Salvator infused the source of the power he received from his contract with Belducias into the fragment, not his own body. It seems he continued to do so afterward. As for why, I'd guess he was trying to amplify the power he received using the fragment's potential."
Amella said this as she held out the fragment. All this talk made him feel uneasy about it, but Luon took the fragment without a word. He asked.
"If it's so dangerous, why was there nothing unusual while I was carrying it? And it's a bit of a coincidence that we ran into someone like this right after I met you. Did you make some kind of mistake when you handled the tablet yesterday?"
Amella nodded.
"...It's correct to see it as a mistake. I apologize for that. I didn't know what Salvator might have done to the fragment, and it was a problem that I carelessly tried to confirm if it was the Philosopher's Stone. Because of that, Belducias's power leaked out of the fragment. That creature must have sensed that energy and followed us."
Luon asked without delay.
"So these kinds of ambushes will continue? All the way to the Magic Tower?"
"No, that won't happen."
Amella sighed softly and added.
"I've temporarily isolated the fragment from reality. It still exists physically, but its essence is now in the realm of the mind, so..."
Amella trailed off, then saw the two men staring at her with blank expressions and quickly finished her sentence.
"It's easier to just think of it as sealed."
"How long will that seal last?"
Amella replied to Kyle's worried voice.
"Well... it should be fine for a while. But it will get more dangerous as time goes on."
With those words, a silence fell between the three of them. Luon was expressionless, and Kyle just scratched his head, looking like he didn't know what to say. Amella spoke.
"This might sound like an excuse, Luon, but even if you had kept carrying this, something like this would have happened eventually. Even if the sword blessed by Tivela had suppressed it, the power within the fragment would have leaked out somehow. Of course, it's entirely my fault that it happened sooner. There's no excusing that. I'm sorry."
Luon shook his head.
"No, there's no need to be sorry. If it was going to happen anyway, this is actually for the best."
Amella seemed genuinely sorry for awakening the fragment's power, but from Luon's perspective, it wasn't a bad situation at all. Thanks to her, he had gained a decent skill and even learned how to draw out the holy sword's power. Wasn't this much better than fighting a demon's minion without knowing why?
Having organized his thoughts, Luon added curtly.
"If we're done talking, let's get moving."