#029. The Sleeping Princess of Rown (2)
Next, the subject this author shall address is the ‘devils,’ which can be called the reason and background for our existence as devil hunters.
Unlike monsters, which divide into hundreds of forms, devils can be largely classified into two types, which we simply call the ruling class and the subjugated class.
First, before entering into the ruling class that can be called the root of all evil—namely, the 66 Great Devils—let us address the subjugated class.
Devils classified as the same race as the Great Devils, yet unable to become rulers.
These are the fellows we commonly encounter, called ‘devils.’
Not only do they all possess individual appearances, but their abilities are also myriad.
Therefore, their strength cannot be generalized, and the methods to deal with them all differ.
Then how on earth should we face devils?
First, you must grasp their outer form.
Through years of hunting them, this author has reached one firm conclusion.
Devils are ultimately an extension of monsters.
When you first face them, do not be frightened by their bizarre appearance, but quickly examine their form.
They will certainly possess two to three characteristics of the monsters we have faced as routinely as eating meals.
Once found, now the second step.
Quickly recall and combine the methods to deal with those monsters.
As mentioned moments ago, it is monsters that we faced as routinely as eating meals.
If you are a true devil hunter, I believe the second step will be settled within one minute.
Now, if you have completed this far, you are now ready to face that devil.
Truly simple, is it not?
Actually, this is where it begins.
Think about it.
Would they be called devils for no reason?
There is a reason we ignore the idiotic claims of biologists that devils should be classified as monsters.
It is that they drive humans into despair through wicked and cunning methods.
Of course, the degree varies by individual, but they all sharply dig into human weakness and emotions.
Then just how should we deal with devils?
From now on, I shall speak while adding my experiences, so I recommend my juniors purchase the next chapter as soon as possible.
—From Hellsing’s ‘How to Survive as a Devil Hunter’—
***
“Damn it….”
There was nothing inside the blanket.
A sticky murderous intent crept up his spine.
Above.
Virgil instinctively threw his body backward.
Crack!
Something slammed down where he had stood, and the bed split in two.
Had he been a moment slower, his head would have split apart like the bed.
Virgil grabbed Somnium instead of the medical device.
The form of the attacker visible between the split bed.
The first thing that caught his eye was the hair.
So abundant that it covered her entire body, yet still dragged on the floor.
Next was her naked body.
Purple magic circles were densely engraved all over her, and her skin’s texture looked mushy.
Like mud.
Could one call that a human?
The princess trapped in the tower was already a completely different creature.
“…eh.”
Whispering unintelligible words, she slowly crawled forward.
Each time her hands and feet touched the floor, a sound like something sticky attaching and detaching was heard.
Soon, the mouth visible through her hair opened a little wider.
And a bizarre voice was heard.
“Kill… you….”
It was clearly the voice of a powerless girl, but behind it, a chilling laugh was heard.
The dark atmosphere mixed with a terrible smell made his spine chill even more.
“Hmph.”
Hellsing’s words came to mind.
He had said that the moment he saw the princess’s eyes, he couldn’t help but kill her.
Right now, her eyes were hidden by her hair.
What kind of terrible gaze did she possess for that madman Hellsing to say such a thing?
Suppressing his curiosity, Virgil too took his stance.
The princess, crawling on all fours, abruptly stopped.
“Kill… Kill!”
She charged quickly.
Virgil threw his body to the side and fired Somnium.
Bang!
A silver bullet flew toward the princess’s neck.
As expected, it was easily blocked.
The means of defense was her hair.
The hair moved freely, performing both attack and defense simultaneously.
“Hoo….”
He had learned how to hunt devils while traveling with Hellsing in the game in the past.
Find the type of grafted monster.
Since she was possessed, the ghost type was certain; the next part was the problem.
He was confused as to what monster was mixed in.
Sticky body, severe stench, moving hair….
As if to give him no time to think, the princess’s attack began again.
Her hair transformed into the shape of sharp spears and flew at him.
Two places at once.
He dodged one by turning his body and deflected the other with a dagger.
Clang!
Unidentifiable liquid splashed on his face.
Judging by the smell, it wasn’t blood.
Sskeaak!
The princess’s attacks flew incessantly.
This time, she clumped her hair together bluntly and swung it.
To prevent it from being deflected by a dagger.
Virgil threw himself backward and quickly defended his chest with his greatsword.
Kwaang!
He flew backward and crashed into the wall.
“Ha….”
As expected, he hated pain.
For a quick resolution, he took out a greatsword-shaped cookie from his bag and bit into it.
A supernatural sense felt behind the disgusting taste.
It was indeed a stimulant, but not a taste fit for humans.
Like shit.
“Kkeuk. You son of a….”
His whole body tingled, and his senses grew sharper.
“Kill!”
The princess attacked.
This time, she split her hair into two strands and swung them.
Strong wind pressure.
Virgil met it with a spinning slash.
Boooong!
He struck away the two attacks and flew as if to tear the princess’s body apart.
Oh no, at this rate he’d kill her.
Hastily, he turned the blade and swept it sideways.
Kwaang!
The princess flew along with her hair and was impaled into the wall.
Virgil wiped his face.
Something had splashed again during the collision just now.
A sticky, foul smell.
He gently rubbed the mucus with the fingertips poking out from the end of his glove.
It shone in the moonlight coming from beyond the door.
It was transparent green.
‘Ah.’
He understood.
Virgil realized the remaining monster type.
“Simpler than it looks.”
He readjusted his grip on the sword.
The princess, impaled in the wall, only raised her head to look.
Sticky something kept dropping from her mouth.
“Kill…. Kill….”
He expected a charge and took his stance.
But instead of rushing immediately, she bent her arms and legs backward and stuck to the wall.
Using the mucus flowing from her skin, she adhered tightly.
Seeing her, Virgil became certain of his deduction.
The princess crawled up to the ceiling and quickly swung her hair.
Virgil didn’t dodge but struck the hair away with his greatsword.
With the flat side, not the edge.
A sound like hitting a wet blanket with a bat was heard, and sticky liquid flew everywhere.
Pook! Pook!
He could feel the hair’s strength gradually weakening.
It was time to end this.
It was a devil all the same, but considerably easier compared to the Great Devils.
If he hadn’t been thinking of saving the princess, he would have split her in two long ago.
Virgil aimed Somnium and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The princess defended her body with her hair.
This was the situation Virgil had aimed for.
He powerfully struck the princess’s body and hair with the flat of the sword.
Hoping she would faint.
Kwaaang!
The princess flew toward the wall.
“Damn!”
The direction she flew was toward the tower entrance.
“Shit!”
He ran toward the entrance, following the princess.
Her body had already passed through the entrance.
Throwing his body outside the entrance, Virgil simultaneously unfastened the chain bound to his wrist and connected it to the greatsword.
Then he threw the greatsword toward the spire wall.
Using only the strength of his arm.
Kwaang!
Because of his broken posture, the power was weak, but he succeeded in embedding it.
Koong—
A thunderous roar bursting from high altitude shook the city.
Virgil gripped the chain tightly and threw his body toward the falling princess.
His hand couldn’t reach.
She had lost consciousness from the strong impact and was falling as is.
Virgil drew a dagger from his armor and threw it at her.
Avoiding a vital point, but enough to make her come to her senses from pain.
Puk!
It embedded in her lower abdomen.
“Kieeeek!”
The princess let out a scream a human could not make.
It was exactly the cry of the ghost-type monster, Banshee.
The devil hidden in the princess’s body revealed itself completely.
“Kieeeek!”
Green hair stretched long and stuck to the wall.
Seeing the sticky mucus filling its entire body, it was indeed a Slime as well.
There was a reason it seemed less intelligent than other devils.
The devil wearing the princess’s skin screamed while clinging to the wall.
It wasn’t a language humans used, but to Virgil, it was clear.
“Who are you! Who dares wake me! The promised time has not yet come! I must go to Him! Kieeeek!”
The final scream echoed throughout the city.
Torches could be seen lighting up throughout the city.
Virgil gripped the chain and climbed the wall.
The devil crawled along the wall and quickly approached Virgil.
Virgil continuously threw daggers kept in his armor, but they were blocked by her hair and couldn’t impede her much.
He had approached the greatsword, and the devil had approached Virgil.
The hair transformed into sharp skewers and flew at him.
Virgil drew the greatsword and blocked them simultaneously.
Kwaang!
The devil stuck to the wall, but Virgil couldn’t.
He began to fall.
“Kkeuk!”
He swung the greatsword fiercely and embedded it in the wall.
With a loud roar, he stopped falling.
The devil tried to climb back up the tower but turned back upon hearing the sound.
Virgil reloaded the bullet with one hand.
Two shots would be impossible; just exactly one.
The devil crawled on all fours as fast as a bug, and Virgil extended Somnium while hanging on the wall.
A small spark flew.
Bang!
With the loud gunshot, the devil hesitated for a moment.
In that gap, he detached the chain connected to the end of the handle.
The devil brushed away the hair covering its body and quickly crawled again.
Virgil waited.
As the devil approached to a certain degree, it swung its hair.
Sskeaak!
He had aimed for this.
He caught the hair with his body and grasped it.
Simultaneously with pulling, he looped the chain around her body.
And he began to tighten the chain around the devil’s body.
“Kieeeek!”
It screamed.
The devil stuck to the wall using its whole body, and Virgil hung on its back using the chain.
The hair tangled this way and that and attacked Virgil, but there was no great damage.
Because it had already used too much mucus, the hair couldn’t clump thickly.
Virgil bent the devil’s head back and shoved Hellsing’s medical device into its mouth.
“Kehek!”
“It’s over.”
The moment he tried to use the medical device, Virgil met the princess’s eyes for the first time.
“…….”
He now understood what Hellsing had said in the past.
‘If you saw that child’s eyes, even that fucking sun god would have killed her.’
“Damn it.”
He pulled the lower part of the medical device.
Tung.
With a weak explosion, a sound of countless silver beads tearing through the inside of the body was heard.
“Kieeeek!”
The devil screamed even more terribly than before.
Twisting its body this way and that, trembling, before long the green mucus stuck to its body turned to powder and disappeared.
“Shit.”
Its body fell from the wall.
It began to slowly fall toward the ground.
The rapidly passing surroundings and strong wind.
Already at the height of the golden statue’s knee.
Virgil tightly hugged the unconscious princess and took out the scroll Ekirna had given him from his belt pocket.
At the height of the golden statue’s ankle.
He tore the scroll with his mouth.
A reddish light spread beneath their bodies.
Just before impact.
Virgil hugged the princess even tighter.
Praying for the power of the single-use defensive spell.
Kwaaang!
They crashed into the pit where the large brazier had been, sending gray ash flying hazily.
Murmur murmur.
The city’s residents gathered in the central plaza.
The greatsword embedded in the spire and the devil’s screams had been enough to wake them from sleep.
“Make way! Make way!”
The Royal Guards parted through the gathered people, making a path.
King Rown came to the central plaza, surrounded by the Royal Guards.
His expression was completely stiff.
People gathered from all directions.
The three princes, the nobles, the serfs.
The central plaza seemed packed with all nearby residents.
They surrounded the brazier pit where ash was flying.
“H-hurry and find them!”
At the Chief Steward’s cry, the Royal Guards slowly entered the pit, parting the smoke.
Just before they advanced further inside, Virgil’s voice was heard.
“…Do not come!”
At his strained voice, the Royal Guards stepped back.
Shortly after, the smoke dispersed and the scene inside the pit slowly revealed itself.
Virgil in black armor with black hair hanging loosely.
Someone of unknown identity cradled in his arms.
It was wrapped round and round in a cloak, its face covered by Virgil’s helm.
The people held their breath.
“A moment… please step aside….”
King Rown pushed people back and entered the pit step by step.
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty! It is dangerous!”
The dissuasion of the Royal Guards and the Chief Steward was useless.
King Rown arrived before Virgil.
Strength left his legs, and he knelt.
“My… my daughter… did she depart peacefully….”
His voice trembled, full of tears.
“I am sorry….”
Virgil spoke quietly.
“It cannot be helped…. Thank you… for your efforts….”
King Rown slowly lowered his head.
His only daughter flickered before his eyes.
From when she was first born until she went missing four years ago, all memories passed by like a lantern slide show.
Black ash clung to the king’s clean clothes.
“It is enough now…. With this… my greed as a father… holding her back ends here…. I am truly… sorry… Roje….”
King Rown shed tears silently.
Virgil spoke quietly to him.
“Hoo… I mean I am sorry for leaving scars…. I tried, but it was not easy.”
“…What….”
“The princess survived…. The devil is dead.”
“Ah… ahh….”
King Rown raised the helm’s face guard with trembling hands.
“Keuheuk!”
She was wretched.
Emaciated and covered in blood.
Silver powder and green vomit were heavily smeared around her mouth.
He extended his fingers toward under her nose.
A faint breath was felt.
“Ro… Roje….”
“They say that even when a body is ruled by a devil, emotions show in the eyes…. The princess was crying sorrowfully. Begging to be killed right now…. If I had seen those eyes from the beginning, I might truly have killed her.”
“Heuheuk… Roje! Roje! I am sorry! Roje!”
The king buried his head and wept bitterly.
Everyone in the plaza turned their bodies away and did not look.
Except for one.
“You mongrel bastard, I’ll kill you….”
A woman deeply hooded in a robe bit her lower lip hard.
At that moment.
Virgil’s pupils slowly turned toward her.
***
Not far from the central plaza, an inn called ‘The Wayfarer’s Breath.’
In a third-floor suite, a woman had cried herself to sleep.
Her name was Hanna.
Despite the inn being noisy, she only soaked her pillow with tears and saliva.
And above her head.
The white ring symbolizing a Player announced consecutive level-ups.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!