I had been vaguely sensing the vibrations echoing through the surroundings since the moment I confronted Count Georg.
They had finally reached the point where the ground itself was trembling, as if preparing to reveal their true identity.
I offered a cheerful smile as I replied to the member of the Demon Race.
“You know? What I and the Special Task Force members did here.”
“…….”
“It was the destruction of the Artifacts that were subjecting the Sacred Land to Demonic Transformation. One was destroyed every time that pillar of light you saw rose up. I suppose… you must have seen it happen about five times.”
“What does that have to do with the current situation?”
“It has everything to do with it.”
I replied with a smirk, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“The sabotage operation against the Artifacts causing the Demonic Transformation of the Sacred Land.”
In reality, it was an act equivalent to destroying an outpost in the middle of a Realm of Demons.
“We’ve been repeating that for three days now. Do you really think the Demon Army wouldn’t notice something was wrong?”
“……No way.”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
At that moment, massive shadows began to reveal themselves from all directions.
Some took the form of squirming insects, some looked like a black sun cutting across the sky, and others appeared to be rotten trees with decayed corpses hanging like fruit.
A total of fifteen such shadows appeared.
Every single one of them was a Calamity-class Monster capable of turning a city into hell.
“It means the Demon Army isn’t stupid either. Five Calamity-class Monsters guarding the Artifacts were shredded without even being able to use their strength. Naturally, they had to change their strategy, right?”
The result was this: releasing all the sentinels guarding the Artifacts just to catch the culprit.
“Well, to be honest, it’s wonderful news for you. You’ve gained an unexpected force, haven’t you?”
Despite my words, the expression of the Demon Race member began to sour.
“……Dammit.”
His gaze turned toward the Sword Master, whose face was contorted like a vengeful ghost as he faced the Calamity-class Monsters.
Furthermore, Count Georg did not possess the authority to control these Calamity-class Monsters.
In the end, those two would never be able to escape this place.
I grinned and licked the Holy Sword.
“I really love it when a plan I’ve imagined falls perfectly into place~”
Of course, it was usually the Great Sage who ensured those plans fell into place so perfectly.
Because of that, my mood could be described as soaring through the sky.
In truth, this task was practically the first plan I had successfully executed in my entire life.
“……Who exactly is the villain here.”
I shouted, ignoring someone’s sighing murmur from behind.
“Special Task Force! Survive somehow until I finish cleaning up the area!”
The roars of the Calamity-class Monsters that had discovered our position echoed in all directions.
Murfin shouted, his face scrunched up as much as possible.
“Captain, you said you’d treat us! You’d better be prepared when we get back.”
“Hahaha, say that after you survive first!”
The Holy Sword split the head of the Demon Race member who was right in front of me.
***
“Dammit.”
Riki swallowed hard.
He was faced with Calamity-class Monsters in a situation where he had to protect Count Georg.
Three massive monsters of peculiar shapes, the likes of which he had never even seen in literature, were slowly closing in on him.
“Father, can you escape?”
“……Ugh.”
However, Count Georg lacked the strength to even open his mouth in response to Riki’s question.
His body, which was already undergoing partial Demonization, was suffering from critical internal distortions due to the power of the Holy Sword.
At that moment, a voice echoed inside Count Georg’s head.
[It seems our connection ends here.]
‘What?’
It was the voice of a beautiful woman.
An voice so alluring that it felt as if one would be seduced just by hearing it.
Feeling his body grow cold, Count Georg asked back in bewilderment.
‘What do you mean by that, Adelphia? Surely your role is to keep protecting me until the Contract is fulfilled?’
[No. That was a Contract signed with the Whisper Family. Not with you.]
‘This or that! Isn’t your side the one that must uphold the Contract regardless?’
[My, it seems you still haven’t properly understood the situation. Recall once more what the contents of the Contract between you and me were.]
‘What are you……!’
In that instant, Count Georg vomited and his body convulsed.
“Father? Father! What’s wrong all of a sudden?!”
“I-I’m fine. Focus…… on what’s in front of you.”
“……Curse it. Just hold on a little longer. I’ll break through somehow.”
After slowly setting Count Georg down, Riki pointed his sword toward the Calamity-class Monsters.
Soon, his Sword Aura flickered and clashed against the calamities.
While the destructive light obscured his vision, the contents of the Contract, which instantly scrambled his mind, were forcibly engraved into Count Georg.
And Count Georg realized the loophole in the Contract.
‘This…… what is this? My role was supposed to be hindering the Allied Forces from restoring the Sacred Land?!’
[And for that purpose, there was a clause stating that a certain number of the Sacred Land’s Artifacts must not be destroyed.]
‘W-Why? I don’t even know where those Artifacts are!’
[It does not matter that you did not know. What matters is that the Contract was not fulfilled.]
The Demon whispered with a sickening smile.
[The price for failing to fulfill the Contract was to vomit blood through every hole in your body.]
‘No. Not that! I-Is there any way?’
[Under no circumstances are double Contracts accepted. That is the ecology we, the Demons, use to survive.]
With those words, black smoke began to leak from Count Georg.
While Riki was not looking, Count Georg was bleeding black blood from his entire body.
[But do not worry. The Memory Alteration you desired will never be undone as long as I do not die. You can have a Sword Master as your child, just as you wanted. Forever.]
“A-Ah, ugh, cough.”
[Of course, that will only be true within your memories.]
With a gloomy smile, the formless Demon turned into smoke and escaped from Georg’s body.
However, the blood flowing from Count Georg did not turn red even after the Demon had left.
the blood flowing from his body would never be dyed red again.
[Well then, since my work here is done…… shall I return to the Whisper Family side now.]
***
While I was slicing through about ten Calamity-class Monsters, a bizarre stench drifted from Count Georg’s direction.
However, this was not the stench of the Demon Race.
It was the same kind of foul odor, but the scent was different.
It wasn’t the nauseating stench of the Demon Race, but a fishy, metallic stench of blood.
‘As I thought, a Demon was involved.’
Now, how should I overcome this?
First, the most important thing was to capture the form of the Demon before it escaped.
However, there were too many dangerous factors to ignore the Calamity-class Monsters and the Demon Race members fluttering about.
It became even more difficult to move since I had to look after the Special Task Force members as well.
‘It would be best to first investigate what this stench is connected to.’
To do that, I had to conclude the current situation first.
Once the goal was set, I gripped the Holy Sword even tighter.
“Jump at him somehow! Use the size of the monsters to launch a surprise attack!”
“That’s easy for you to say! If we get close, we’ll all be shredded! What more are we supposed to do here!”
“Push through by any means! If we don’t kill him here, we’re all dead anyway!”
The desperation of the wolf-dogs who had turned into the Demon Race intensified.
Furthermore, the more time dragged on, the more the Calamity-class Monsters began to shift into a state where they could perfectly display their true strength.
There were two Calamity-class Monsters remaining.
Strikes that could easily topple several buildings with a single swing were repeatedly battering Elena’s defensive wall.
Yet, despite that, Elena did not fall.
No, to be more precise, it would be more accurate to say she couldn’t fall.
“Concentrate. Concentrate!”
“Ugh, how much more do you want me to concentrate! I’m already at my limit!”
“If you’re properly concentrating, you shouldn’t be able to even open your mouth! If you don’t want to get hit and fly away, shut up and manage your Mana properly!”
Laila’s shout, filled with discipline as she thickened the defensive wall by inheriting the Mana of the Dragons, tightened Elena’s tension even further.
‘They’re doing well.’
If they were receiving help from the Dragons, it would be better to finish off these bothersome Demon Race members before the Calamity-class Monsters.
I held the Holy Sword high and offered a prayer.
“God of the Sun. Grant me the flames that light the way forward.”
The Solar Flame that began to burn from the Holy Sword brightly illuminated the sky that had been nothing but darkness.
The sky was still covered in dark clouds, but the Sun’s light shining from within them was so intense it was blinding.
The moment the Demon Race members all flinched.
I wordlessy moved my sword.
Once, then twice.
As the movements continued, the simple swings of the sword became a sword dance.
However, there is no such thing as a sword dance performed without meaning.
The sword dance, possessing a purpose, moved toward the Demon Race while carrying murderous intent.
The sword, moving without pause, cut down the devils.
Ten Thousand Demons Slash.
The members of the Demon Race, unable to open their eyes in the light, came into contact with the sword of the Sun.
Because of the blinding light and its heat, they didn’t even realize they had been cut before their bodies began to crumble away.
The Demon Race members, unable to even scream, turned into lumps.
Soon, the two calamities before me would meet the same fate.
However, that heat would ultimately not be directed toward Humanity.
The murderous intent the Sun harbored was only for those from the outside who invaded the place where its creatures lived.
Only the punishment of fire, emitted by the great Warrior representing the Sun, descended upon this place.
“……Ha.”
Yes, this was a punishment.
The Grace of the Sun does not lend its strength without a price.
Naturally, corresponding conditions are required.
And the more those conditions are met, the more fiercely it burns.
Until I was called a great Warrior…… how many sacrifices did it take to crush the Demon Army?
As I recalled that fact, I witnessed the head of the Calamity-class Monster that was threatening the Special Task Force members fall, engulfed in flames.
“……Oh.”
It seems I was so focused that I briefly forgot I had already swung my sword.
After cutting down all the monsters and the Demon Race before me, it felt as though the past I had briefly forgotten was beginning to consume my mind.
Slap!
I slapped my cheek with my right hand to snap out of it.
Now was not the time to be reminiscing about the past.
Thump! Thump!
Turning my head, I saw the Sword Master struggling against three Calamity-class Monsters.
Count Georg, whom he had tried to protect, lay dead and shriveled, his body covered in black blood as if he had bled from every hole.
‘Memory Alteration…… and enough power to exert direct influence on the body due to a Contract violation.’
Count Georg, who was undergoing Demonization, was at most a low-level rank.
He didn’t possess the power to perform something as nonsensical as Memory Alteration, so he must have borrowed the power of the Demon he had contracted with.
This meant, in other words, that the Demon Count Georg had contracted with was higher than a mere scout…… a Ghoul-class used by the Demon King.
‘At least an Evil Spirit-class.’
Well, I can think about the Demon I’ve already missed later.
The important thing was something else.
Boom!
Finally, Riki brought down the heads of the three Calamity-class Monsters.
Sharply forged claws and a red sword surged, exhaling hot heat.
Riki’s gaze soon turned back.
Then he stared at the shriveled, bloodied form of Count Georg.
“……Ha.”
Riki’s eyes, filled with resentment, soon turned toward me.
“How dare you…… turn my benefactor into such a state?”
The influence of the Memory Alteration left by the Demon had not yet faded.
I did not bother to answer and simply raised the Holy Sword.
“Since you’ve warmed up properly, why don’t you attack before you cool down?”
Screeech.
Riki’s sword scraped harshly against the ground.
“I was planning to do exactly that.”
Soon, the Holy Sword and the claws clashed.