Arisa here. Back in my teen years, I thought my parents were annoying when they worried about me, but deep down, I relied on my parents, and before I knew it, I was very dependent on them. That’s something you only notice when you lose them.
“Now, remove my binds! Or I’ll order the undead to break into the Castle!”
The old guy called Zanzasansa or something yelled out, seemingly smug.
“In that case, we’ll just kill you before you can order them.”
“W-wait! If you kill me, the forces will break free from my yoke and head straight for the nearby living ones—the Tauruses of the Castle! It will only hasten your destruction!”
As his own life was hanging on the line, he seemed desperate. Though, they were already inside the Castle—so I didn’t know what he was babbling about. The wolflike guy, Mr. Fen, probably didn’t think it would cause a Taurus stampede. He was still standing above the old necromancer guy with his sword held high.
“Hey, could I have a moment?”
“What is it, girl?”
Mr. Fen had Zanzasansa stuck in place with his magic, so I figured Zanzasansa could drop the act already. Though he was just acting, his voice was shaking.
“So I heard from one of my familiars that the undead are already in the Castle. Mr. Tiga and his party are currently holding them off—they haven’t even reached the inner gate.”
I relayed the information that Master told me to the old necromancer. The old dude looked a bit shocked.
“Th-that’s not possible! I didn’t order them to enter it yet!”
He seemed really confused. I wondered if he wasn’t expecting that to happen.
“In that case, there’s no need to keep him alive.”
Mr. Fen spoke, a sense of bloodlust crossing his handsome, wolflike features.
“Wait! That’s not all I can do!”
“I told you, stop with the jokes—”
“I mean it! I can show you!”
The sword, swung down to decapitate, stopped at Zanzasansa’s neck. I thought it was 120 percent just a bluff, but considering the slightest possibility, I think they couldn’t go through with it.
“Haah, haah, haah… Open.”
Zanzasansa was wet with a cold sweat as he breathlessly said a command word, as if opening an Item Box. But it was a little weird. He didn’t have the ability “Item Box”…or at least, he shouldn’t have. Nothing happened…or maybe it did?
“Come out.”
Zanzasansa ordered someone to do something. Everyone looked around the room.
“I found it?”
At the spot where Tama, who had climbed on top of the turtle that had its shell stripped away, pointed, a black square that resembled an Item Box appeared, and I could see a mummified, dried-up hand reaching in to take out a short horn.
That was the short horn Master was talking about.
“Tama!”
“Yessir?”
Tama snatched the short horn away from the dried-up hand.
“Feed on my desires—”
The short horn in Tama’s hand began to exude miasma.
That’s bad.
“Tama!”
Liza shouted.
“Throw it away! Quick!”
“Roger.”
Tama threw it away without a moment’s hesitation.
“The Power of Tyranny—”
“It was a trap.”
Mr. Fen brought his longsword down on Zanzasansa’s neck. His decapitated head rolled away on the battlefield—it was yucky. The rolling severed head and the short horn that Tama threw away seemed to be drawn to something, as if trying to stick to it. I didn’t really want to use an “Abort Object” on that.
“…Deracinator!”
I created a spatial wall to separate the two.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit!”
“Ew, the head is talking.”
Unfortunately, it seemed the necromancer was now undead. Not that we could expect anything less.
“Perish.”
Mr. Fen sliced the necromancer’s head into two clean halves, causing it to freeze solid and shatter into shards. He was thorough, to say the least.
“Gah-ha-ha, the old man’s dead!”
“Nya-ha-ha, he’s going straight to hell!”
“Nye-hee-hee, the old man gave us so many lives!”
Discordant voices rang out through the battlefield. They gave me the creeps.
“…Demons.”
There were three—no, even more—low-rank demons behind the turtle. Their appearance is bizarre, as if their bark-like skin has parts of a face, such as lips and ears, with limbs attached.
“Where did you come from…?”
“How I wish you’d used the Summoning Egg sooner.”
Damn. The short horn earlier was just a decoy to distract us.
“We’re filled with death.”
“The stage is set.”
“Time for our Master’s entrance.”
“Prepare to feel despair, humans!”
The demons danced around. Nana and Lulu both attacked, Nana with her javelin and Lulu with her Fireburst Gun, but the demons, even after having parts of their bodies blown away, continued to dance wildly without a care. To make matters worse, the shattered fragments turned into smaller demons, making it unclear whether the attacks were even effective.
“Mew!”
Tama yelped out in fear around the same time a seed burst out from beneath the turtle, growing into a giant tree before taking the twisted form of a human.
A high-ranking demon.
I didn’t even have to use “Status Check.” I could tell from its overwhelming presence. It didn’t match up to the high-ranking demon we saw in the museum in Shiga Kingdom, but it was on the level of the demon lord we saw in Parion Province. Bazan the Discordant One was amazing, but the one in front of us at the moment was a lot more terrifying.
Of course, I knew why. Master wasn’t here. I realized how much I relied on him then.
“Finally found you!”
Mr. Fen came running up, though he turned more and more wolflike, eventually turning into the giant Divine Beast Fenrir. The Divine Beast closed in on the high-ranking demon immediately. The high-ranking demon who created a shield of magic barriers disappeared beyond the sea of trees. Massive trees flew through the air one after another, while chunks of earth and vegetation erupted with clouds of dust.
“Arisa, should we follow after them?”