Chapter 40 – What Is That, 10duck Bird!! (2)
The journey of the hero’s party was greatly delayed due to an unexpected obstacle and interference from the beast trainer. Originally, it would have been enough time for them to reach the capital, but they quickly ran out of stamina and were unable to travel long distances due to demonic monsters who would come to them if they wanted to take a breather.
Dark blue-skinned beasts of darkness, reinforced by the power of Rag or Baron Anagedon, had high resistance to most magic attacks, so Viola, who was always in charge of the strong firepower of the warrior party, could do nothing, and others filled the vacancy. It was a problem that happened.
Fortunately, the witch-beast trainer who was supposed to be sending them a witch-beast didn’t send it after the sun went down. Gordon’s suggestion of thinking the opposite and moving instead of camping at night was immediately abandoned by the beasts that popped out as soon as their wagon set in motion.
And Viola sighed and said:
“It seems that her purpose is not to destroy us, but to hinder us.”
“Buying time? But why? It’s very easy to defeat us with that demonic beast, so why bother using such cumbersome means?”
“Come to think of it, Rag and Armageddon also let us go too easily. But based on rumors about him, he’s not a man who shows mercy without cause. Especially if he’s someone who was trying to take his own life…”
“So after all… It means he has a plan. For that, it means he needs to not kill us. So, is he trying to use us for something…?”
“Ah, my head hurts. Let’s stop. There’s no way we can find out what that man was thinking in the first place. If that was possible, we wouldn’t be in that position now.”
The discussion, which began by sitting together in front of a campfire, quickly ended with a bland conclusion. Viola showed signs of wanting to say more, but she stopped because she wasn’t selfish enough to say what she wanted while forcing her tired comrades to fight harder for the empty seat she had.
“…I’ll look around for a while and come back.”
“Isn’t it dangerous alone? I’m with you…”
“No. It’s okay. I won’t go very far, I’ll just scout the surroundings for a while. And moving alone is much faster.”
“If it’s Hawk or you…But don’t overdo it.”
“Let’s sell our worries.”
Hochna refused to accompany the hero and left near the campfire first. Although she is wearing two large items that seem to get in the way of her nimble movements, she is still an elf. Descendants of fairies who live in trees and forests, they are at least close to the strongest in this forest, if not anywhere else.
Besides, who is Hochna? Isn’t it a living legend who has served as a mercenary longer than the combined ages of all the rest of his party? No one was worried about her because she wasn’t a rookie scout, and she wasn’t one to get into an unexpected situation by doing too much alone. It was proof that he believed in her.
And the longest-lived elf mercenary trusted by his colleagues… Lightly skipping from tree to tree and moving swiftly and silently through the forest, he reached the wagon located in the front, a little away from the wagon of the party.
A gorgeous and expensive magic wagon with the pattern of Baron Armageddon engraved on it, as well as thanks to the high-ranking magic that is applied, inside it is a luxurious magic wagon that has a wide space comparable to that of a modest mansion in the capital.
At the entrance of the carriage, she was there.
A bloated chest that even Hockna, who prides herself on being quite large, is no match for, a skin warped like white jade that contrasts amazingly with a dark purple dress with black lace, a benevolent smile reminiscent of a virgin and a mask of hideous pretense. Hidden ugly nature.
“Oh my? Who is this?”
Beast trainer, Ray.
“You’re one of the hero’s companions, an elf with that troublesome bow, right?”
Knowing her approach even before Hockna revealed her appearance, she smiled at her with a cold smile on her lips and scattered her with a chilling gaze that made everyone who saw her tingle.
After all, it is a formidable opponent, Hawk I swallowed her dry saliva. Among the subordinates of Baron Ragnar Armageddon, in fact, the one who most definitely and often collided with the hero’s party. That’s why Hochna felt her power with her whole body.
At first glance, she looks defenseless and alone without an escort, but that’s a trick. Around her, all kinds of vicious monsters assimilated into the darkness in their own way, protecting her. If you launch a light attack from this side once, the beasts will tear up the darkness in an instant and reveal their ferocious appearance.
Hawkna tensed her muscles at her great stealth, which she wouldn’t have noticed had it not been for the elf’s sharp senses in her forest. Fortunately, she has no intention of attacking first from the other side. She said, in fact, if she was going to kill her, she would have done it right away.
Even so, even the monsters near her now were several times stronger than the monsters she and her party had faced on this journey, and many times more.
Dozens, no, hundreds…? How many of them are there? If this amount of demonic beasts charged all at once, it would be difficult for even the party of heroes to be safe. Even though she had a mighty force capable of capturing at least three or four cities in an instant, she did not use them all and sent them very little by little.
As if trying to test their strength, or playing with them like toys.
“Why did a proud elf come looking for a mere trainer like me?
“…”
I really didn’t like her tone, as if she was seeing through everything on this side, but Hochna couldn’t deny her words.
Because…She really came looking for her own enemy, Ragnar Armageddon.
And that, while thoroughly hiding that fact from her colleagues.
Beast trainer Ray scattered Hochna’s body as she walked out of the tree with her eyes narrowing like a crescent moon. Then she smiled quietly, as if she realized something.
“You… Have you heard the master’s whisper?”
As if mocking me for her startled Hawk at that, Ray shrugged her shoulders, covering her mouth with a dark purple fan.
“You don’t have to be so surprised. The way you waver and not be sure of yourself. The confusion you feel when you face the side of yourself that you didn’t even know, or that you knew but tried to turn a blind eye to and deny. And in the ruinous pleasure that makes it all unforgettable. That wandering face is already very familiar to me.”
“…I have business with Ragnar Armageddon. Not you.”
Hawk I was very concerned about what she said, but she tried to ignore it and went about her own business. And Ray took her tantrum with displeasure at other points than she ignored her own words.
“Could you not bring up the master’s name carelessly? At least be a little polite. He’s not a person that you can call his name carelessly.”
“Whatever you call him, that’s on my mind. It’s none of your business. More than that, where is Ragnar Armageddon?”
At Hawkna’s sharp attitude, Ray tutted, clicked his tongue, and shook his head.
“Is there any reason why I should tell you that?”
“Then I’ll have no choice but to make him confess with his own mouth.”
“Ha! Are you trying to threaten me now? You’re not the hero chosen by the goddess of light, you’re an elf whose only life as a mercenary was to live a little longer? Of course, ‘that bow’ you have is a little annoying, but I’m afraid of it. Is there any reason not to?”
“Long and short are the only way to know.”
“That’s it, it’s a story between people who seem to be of the same level. I wonder if I can win if I fight with my colleagues, but will you fight me alone?”
Hawk I reached her hand behind her on her own back. And instead of the bow she used to wear, she picked up the one she always wore on her back, but when she was with her companions she had never worn one.
“I guess you don’t know…”
The bow, which has a subtle green color and shows the raw wood’s roughness with almost no traces of processing, had one very peculiar thing different from other ordinary bows. That is, the protests did not exist.
A bow without a string, it is a sword without a blade and a hammer without a head. Having lost the most basic function of a tool called a bow, it could no longer be called a bow.
Yes. If it were a normal situation.
“I usually fight alone.”
Hawkna was an elf, a resident of the forest and a descendant of fairies, and the item she was holding was a very tricky item that only elves, and very few elves among them, could handle.
“Sueuuuuu…”
Hawk I drew in her breath, tugged at her invisible string.
It seems meaningless, but in fact it is not.
The wind.
The wind.
And the wind.
Her to her, huddled by the bow she is holding.
The surrounding winds, which had been blowing wildly here and there, now existed as transparent arrows between her strange bow and invisible strings.
“An arrow of wind, a secret technique that only a few elves can use. That troublesome attack that shoots the wind itself with arrows, that powerful attack that crushes even thick heavy armor like paper, can only be seen as magic no matter how you look at it. However, it’s not magic because it’s a skill that doesn’t use any magical power. And high magic resistance is meaningless because it’s not magic. It’s literally the most optimal technique for dealing with the beasts that received his grace, and the most lethal technique for me who wields those beasts. … I guess. But.”
Shoot aaaaa…
Even though she had already gathered enough wind to be unstoppable by any means, Hawk I did not let go of her protest. No, she couldn’t let go.
“Did you just notice?”
Creepy stares from all sides. The information that flowed into my brain through the wind was shocking.
Ray and Hawk. Surrounding the two people facing each other… No, no. Not that much.
The entire forest was already in her grasp. From small guys between trees to guys half buried in the ground. The vast number of Demonic Beasts that could not be caught even by the sharp senses of the elves were felt through the wind gathered in the Holy Tree Palace.
Hundreds, that sounds ridiculous.
Thousands, no, tens of thousands…
Counting any more is pointless.
You can capture three or four cities? I never imagined that my thoughts would be so funny. If I could manage this many demon beasts like limbs, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to devour not just a city, but a kingdom.
It feels as if a giant monster with hundreds of millions of eyes is staring at you.
Now, she was standing in the middle of a place infested with countless demonic beasts. Alone, too.
“When she realizes that what she’s doing doesn’t make sense, why don’t she put that ugly bow back in place?”
“…What if I shoot you to death with this one shot?”
“There is less than a 10% chance of succeeding in passing through all the demonic beasts who would dedicate oneself to block the attack in my place. And even if they miraculously succeeded in defeating me in one blow, the demonic beasts who had lost control scattered all over the place would attack me and destroy my comrades. We will be torn to pieces together, so the moment you shoot that arrow, your survival rate will be 100%, zero.”
As she said Rather than shooting an arrow here, it was the right choice to match her rhythm. However, Hawk I did not lower her bow and opened her mouth while aiming at her.
“Where is Ragnar Armageddon?”
“…If I tell you that, will you stop doing that meaningless thing?”
“It will depend on the answer.”
“Ha… Well, okay. Even if you tell me, nothing will change. The master is not here right now. Perhaps he has arrived in the capital by now?”
“Why do you keep sending magic beasts to the point where you can barely beat us and grabbing our ankles?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Because that’s the master’s order to me.”
“Then what is the purpose of his order?”
“How can a mere subordinate like me dare to guess the master’s will at will? More than that, how many questions do you have to ask to be satisfied? Why don’t you put down that bow soon?”
Ray’s eyes narrowed like crescent moons again.
“Before I force you to put it down.”
“…”
Bluff… Not like that. Ray actually has that much power. In the current situation, Ray is the top and Hokna is the Eul. Now that her trump weapon, the arrow of wind, had become useless in front of this ruthless group of monsters, she insisted on gaining the upper hand, even if it was just a little bit, and she didn’t know what judgment she would make.
It would have been Ragnar Armageddon’s order not to kill her, but even if it didn’t take her life, it wouldn’t have prevented taking one or more of her limbs.
Hawk I sighed and retracted her bow, and her unshot arrows of wind were released and spread in all directions.
“Didn’t you say you had business with the master? The fact that the woman who heard his whisper came to visit the master who was supposed to be her enemy on her own feet must be because she wants to feel that pleasure once again.”
“Oh no! Rather the opposite! I…!”
“It’s okay. There’s no need to deny it. Everyone denied it that way at first, but in the end, did you happily accept your own darkness? I did too, so I can fully understand.”
At Ray’s words, as if she knew everything about her situation, Hawk I shut her mouth.
“The owner is too kind. If you let him know such a destructive pleasure once, he will never be able to go back to the way he was before. In particular, the more righteous and righteous people are, the more they can’t stand the difference and end up kneeling on their own.”
“…His power, what the hell is it?”
“I don’t even know the details. My master explained it once before, but it was so complicated that I couldn’t understand it all. To put it simply…”
*
There is light and darkness in the human heart.
And the majority of humans tend to act according to the light. Doing what you believe is right, usually not hurting anyone. Or the act of helping someone in need. That is a good deed
On the contrary, evil is… It is a selfish mind that moves only for oneself even if it causes damage to the surroundings.
Ordinary people have a strong tendency to follow the light because they want to exist as good people, but that doesn’t mean darkness doesn’t exist in their hearts.
And you can’t just blame darkness for being bad.
Jealousy and envy towards people who are better than themselves, greed to get what they don’t have, ironically, these dark emotions are rather an opportunity to develop themselves.
Hehe, but… Among them, there is darkness that cannot be wrapped up with any words.
Forcibly bringing out the darkest and ugliest side of one’s heart that one never wants to admit.
Then, by forcibly pushing the side of the person he was unaware of or denying, he denied and shattered the justice and beliefs he had…
By making them feel pleasure in the process, they set themselves on the path they considered evil.
That was the ‘whisper of corruption’, which was Ragnar Armageddon’s specialty and the strongest weapon, and which made countless people disfigured or stained with evil.
