Episode 5
“How crude.”
This area was the domain of shamans, where the Holy Temple was located.
And in such a place, to don a helmet, armor, and even a cloak modeled after the demon that the Nodeu feared? Did it want to make an enemy of the shamans?
If not that….
‘Is it a means to strike fear into the Nodeu?’
Hiseuton felt the hair all over his body stand on end.
Simply from facing him, he felt an oppressive pressure.
Indeed, with such an appearance, it might be effective against the Nodeu.
“You—.”
“Who are you lot.”
At the question of the demon, Roki, Hiseuton felt his heart pound.
Simply from hearing his voice, the pressure and anxiety he felt had grown even stronger.
‘Did he imbue his voice with mana?’
“…I am Hiseuton, chieftain of the Pareutaseu Tribe. I have spoken my name. Speak yours!”
“I am… Roki.”
“…….”
Hiseuton twisted the corners of his mouth.
The demon worshipped by the shamans had no name. By giving his name just now, he had proven that he was not the demon the Nodeu clan feared.
“Very well, Roki. You….”
Hiseuton grabbed the reins and glared at Roki.
“Are you the one who did this to my subordinates?”
“Indeed?”
“The reason?”
“They attacked me.”
“Only for that reason?”
“They were ones who said they would kill me, and tried to kill me. Is that not enough?”
Roki spread his hand lightly and shrugged his shoulders.
At that sight, Hiseuton felt at ease.
‘Did the undead kill them?’
He recalled the horde of undead that had pursued him in the forest.
Each and every one was a powerful being so strong that it was questionable whether he could face them.
‘They were definitely not low-rank undead.’
Each one was probably Death Knight-class or higher.
Then the being before him was a black mage greater than he had thought.
‘How composed.’
Hiseuton raised his hand.
‘But that composure is probably just a bluff.’
A black mage standing alone before the enemy without sending his undead forward.
Was it not an absurd bluff!
And that composure would lead to his demise.
‘Strike him down!’
When Hiseuton flicked his fingers to send the signal, his subordinates stepped forward.
“Yes, that is enough. But just as you killed my subordinates.”
Hiseuton put strength into his spear.
“You too shall pay the price!”
The opponent harbored hostility. Roki, realizing this, tilted his head and spoke.
“I merely wish to talk.”
“Tell that to my subordinates who have gone to the underworld!”
Simultaneously, the Pareutaseu cavalry charged at Roki from both sides.
They circled around and dashed out swiftly, and Hiseuton charged through the center.
Hiseuton gripped his spear.
Roki spread his hands to the left and right.
The cavalry that had scattered to the sides were ‘crushed’ by Roki’s outstretched hands.
Pop-!
“……!”
By merely stretching his hand into the air and clenching it, the cavalry on both sides shriveled up as if the air were compressed, then burst with a boom.
Blood splattered everywhere.
‘M-magic?!’
But the opponent had killed people by making them explode with just the action of clenching his hand, without even chanting magic.
It was a power that was bizarre and utterly ominous.
Indeed, it was worthy of someone impersonating a demon.
But the fact that he used magic meant he needed time to cast again!
“Ooooooh-!”
Hiseuton gripped his spear and charged.
If a mage used magic once, they were defenseless for at least a few minutes.
That was why a mage was a threatening yet powerless existence on the battlefield.
Because if no one stood in front to protect them, they died easily.
Hiseuton let out a shout.
But contrary to his thoughts, Roki swung his hand through the air, and Hiseuton twisted his body sideways at the spine-chilling sensation he felt.
Thud-!
Space split, and Hiseuton twisted his body.
But it was a late reaction.
His hand gripping the spear was swallowed up and disappeared into the black space created by the torn air.
“Huh-?”
When Hiseuton turned his head and looked at his right hand, blood spurted out along with pain from the trace where his arm had been.
“……!”
Hiseuton even forgot to scream.
He had been through countless battlefields and plundered countless tribes.
He had experienced life-and-death crises many times and overcome them.
Show your back and you die. That had been his motto for survival.
He clenched his teeth.
“You bastard-!”
He charged at the bastard with all his might.
He would approach the mage somehow!
And smash him with his Divine Ability!
“…Oho. You won’t back down even after this?”
While Roki put on a surprised expression, Hiseuton stomped on the horse and leaped up.
He drew a breath.
The opponent was a mage.
One who possessed a bizarre and demonic power that needed no chanting and could use magic continuously.
But Hiseuton also had something to believe in.
An ability that only the ‘chosen ones’ of this world could possess.
[Divine Ability].
A destructive ability known to be possessed only by the bloodline of the great Constellation of the continent of Britannia.
The abilities were very diverse and powerful, a blessed power.
And among them, the Divine Ability that Hiseuton possessed was—
“Die.”
Breathing out a breath like a dragon’s.
Hiseuton opened his mouth and unleashed [Monstrous Cry].
Compressed air spewed from Hiseuton’s mouth.
A blade-like breath burst forth.
Kwa-kwa-kwang-!!
Along with a massive explosion, a blizzard raged in the surroundings.
The earth split, and birds that had been hiding their presence flew up into the sky in shock.
“Kuaaaak-!”
Hiseuton spat out blood.
Every time he breathed, his lungs hurt as if they would burst. The inside of his mouth was also torn to shreds as if cut by something sharp.
‘Damn it-!’
He hadn’t used his Divine Ability except when truly in danger.
Because it placed that much burden on his body.
But the opponent was a monster who had blown away his right hand with a single gesture.
If he showed even the slightest opening against such a bastard, it would be him who died.
“My right hand… kugh-!”
Hiseuton shouted as he looked at the black dust.
“You son of a bitch! You’re fucking dead! Regret it in hell with my subordinates and my right arm, you fucking bastard—!”
As Hiseuton was shouting furiously and gasping for breath, struggling to rise from his spot—
“…Interesting.”
Hiseuton flinched in surprise and turned his head with a blank face.
A black shadow was visible within the black dust.
Within it, glowing red eyes could be seen.
“Is it a skill? No, since this isn’t a game, it must be this world’s magic, or perhaps another power.”
With a single gesture from that being, the dust that had risen from the explosion disappeared from the air pressure.
His entire body was burning with black flames.
Yet he walked out leisurely, making sounds of clanking iron armor and appearing completely unharmed, resembling nothing so much as the king of hell descending.
“What is that power called?”
That demon looked down at Hiseuton.
‘…What?’
Hiseuton revealed a shocked expression.
His [Monstrous Cry] was the same as compressed air.
Its destructive power was such that it could warp even steel castle gates, and if it were a gathered army, it could obliterate over a hundred men without a trace.
That bastard had taken such a blow head-on and merely waved his hand as if brushing off dust from his clothes.
“It’s difficult to try to talk. If you want PVP, I’ll oblige.”
Roki stood firm before Hiseuton.
Hiseuton looked up at Roki.
Seen up close, he was so large that Hiseuton had to look up at him considerably.
“Ha… ha… haha. Hahaha!!”
Hiseuton laughed as if crazed upon seeing Roki like that.
His body trembled on its own.
The surging fear rushed up from deep within his chest and made his heart beat violently.
To that extent, he became enthralled by the existence before his eyes.
An impersonator? No.
That thing was real!
The demon in the Holy Temple, the Constellation of Sin!
It was that demon!
Look at that majesty!
Was he not standing there unscathed even after enduring a blow with all his might!?
The stories he had heard since childhood, and what kind of existence the demon was that the elders had so feared, and that the shamans had feared and revered—he finally realized it.
—The Constellation of Sin judges the Nodeu.
Hiseuton’s laughter cut off abruptly as he recalled those words.
—You shall be judged by that existence, suffering endless pain!
Fear flooded in.
He had come to pass judgment on him.
He couldn’t help but think so.
Hiseuton staggered back.
Looking at such a Hiseuton, Roki stroked his chin.
“Surely you’re not planning to brazenly run away after picking a fight, are you?”
Roki took a step forward, and Hiseuton took a step back.
“Even though you attacked me just now.”
Roki’s crimson eyes blazed like flames.
“And now you’re trying to back out?”
“Hieek-!”
Hiseuton turned around right then and there.
He instantly lost his balance and fell.
Hiseuton turned back and looked at his foot, which had been severed and had rolled away at some point.
He could see that his foot had burst along with the distorted space.
In the heavy pain, the cold of the frozen land seeped in.
“Uwaaaaaaah!!”
A scream echoed.
Everyone around who heard that sound froze.
Not only Hiseuton’s remaining subordinates, but also the Rageuna Tribe.
Everyone looked at Roki with fear in their eyes.
“It would be best to answer when you’re asked.”
Roki spread his hand into the air and clenched it.
Boom-!
Crunch-!
Hiseuton’s other foot also burst and was shredded into pieces.
“Because I lack patience.”
Hiseuton’s eyes began to roll back.
“Uuuuuuh… uuu….”
Hiseuton’s face was soon covered in tears and snot, and blood flowed from his mouth with broken teeth and swollen gums.
Roki frowned at that sight.
He’s not in his right mind. Has he lost it?
He seemed impossible to talk to.
Roki looked at Hiseuton with a pitiful gaze.
To others, it was a gaze that seemed to pity a bug that had its legs pulled off.
And just as he was about to reach out, as if to perform a charitable act to lessen his pain—
“Wait…!”
Someone blocked Roki’s path without fear.
It was a middle-aged man with blond hair and blue eyes.
His appearance was somehow horrendous.
His teeth were all missing and his nasal bone was caved in.
His face was swollen here and there, as if he had been beaten just moments ago.
He clenched his teeth and trembled in fear.
And as he approached Hiseuton and reached out his hand, he looked at Roki and froze.
Roki’s eyes sparkled at the man he was seeing for the first time.
Until now, all the Nodeu he had seen had green hair and green eyes.
At most, they had a blue hue.
Having only seen such humans, Roki felt curious about a different human he was seeing for the first time.
“…Have you come to take this man?”
At Roki’s question, the young man flinched and stepped back, but he showed hesitation at the option of running away.
“Y-yes.”
Roki tilted his head.
“Is he precious to you?”
“…N-no.”
“Then…?”
“He is… a man I owe a debt to.”
The young man barely managed to continue speaking while trembling.
“A debt?”
“At this rate, this man will not survive anyway. C-could you not hand him over to me?”
Roki looked around his surroundings.
There were already countless corpses.
There was no point in killing any more.
“…Take him. And go without looking back.”
“Are you sparing me?”
“There is no need to kill as long as a fly doesn’t come near me.”
The young man dragged Hiseuton and lifted him onto the horse.
Then he looked at Roki and bowed his head.
“Th-thank you. I will repay this debt someday.”
“…….”
The young man rode away.
Roki looked at his own hand.
Until moments ago, he had been thinking of crushing Hiseuton’s head.
He had not hesitated in reaching that conclusion.
It was a lack of humanity.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
It wasn’t something to worry about.
“Kankun.”
Kankun flinched at Roki’s call.
He called my name for the first time!
“Y-yes! Please speak!”
Kankun’s voice had brightened.
He was the benefactor who had saved him twice.
Kankun had realized that he was not someone who would harm him.
Kankun looked at Roki and waited for his words.
“Regarding what that thing called Divine Ability is—”
Roki had grown curious about this world.
“Teach me.”