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Showing my Adventurer Card to the knights guarding the southern gate, I left town.
The culprits attempting to summon a monster were easily found by following the terrible aura that emanated from their ritual.
Deep in the forest, I came upon a group of people in dark robes. They sat in a circle, and in the center lay a small heart.
“Ugh, what the heck is that? It’s still beating even though it doesn’t have a body!”
The throbbing of the heart echoed in my ears, its beat pulsing loudly even though I was hidden a short distance away.
“From what I can tell, those people are channeling godcraft and spellcraft energies into the heart. The heart itself doesn’t have any energy of its own, so they must need an ample amount to perform the summoning,” Cult observed.
“So I’d best stop them before that happens.”
“I’d honestly prefer it if they completed the summoning and the monster appeared,” said Aruna.
I figured she’d say that—all she could talk about was training until we’d finally left town. But now that we knew the demon had yet to arrive, that changed the trajectory of my plans.
“I was going to clear out any nearby monsters until they finished summoning, but I can’t really take a risk like that. If the thing they’re summoning ends up ignoring me and heads to town, then it’ll be the townspeople who suffer.”
“You’re right. It’s a shame, but we should stop their ritual.”
“Okay, here I go.”
Drawing my sword from its sheath and weaving magecraft around me to boost my physical performance, I leaped from the bushes and used that momentum to strike at the person nearest me. Of course, I struck them with the flat of my sword.
“Gwagh!”
My surprise attack had been a success. The man who’d been channeling energy into the heart gasped loudly, then fell over. One hit had been enough to knock him unconscious.
“You’re—!”
Alerted to my presence, the other acolytes who’d been sitting on the ground rose to their feet. They drew their weapons, fixing their steely gazes on me.
“I didn’t think you’d actually come, but here you are...Hisui Belcoure Clematis.”
“How do you know my name?!” I gasped.
The man farthest away from me guffawed, then answered my question in a low voice. He explained that the acolytes had already investigated me, which I’d suspected they would do, but I was surprised at how quickly they’d figured things out. I wondered if there had been an information leak from the adventurer’s guild.
“You really enjoy messing with our plans, don’t you? Who are you, really? No ordinary boy would be able to sense the energy emanating from this artifact—the fact that it has spellcraft energies aside.”
“I thought you’d looked into me.”
“Yeah, and we didn’t find a speck of dirt. Only that you’re the youngest of a backwater noble family.”
“That’s everything there is to know.”
I leveled my sword into a battle-ready stance. Though I’d temporarily interrupted their ritual, the heart seemed to be absorbing energy on its own—its beating in my ears hadn’t stopped, and the presence of a powerful entity had not faded. I decided I was going to destroy the heart right then and there.
Everything happened in a flash. I dashed forward at a speed impossible to track with the naked eye, closing in on the heart lying on the ground.
“I don’t think so, boy!”
The man rolled up his sleeves and thrust his right hand forward, revealing a purple bracelet. The bangle flashed a strange, sickly light for a single moment before it sent a burst of black mist hurtling toward me.
“Spellcraft, huh? Bad choice,” I said.
His attack had been a curse formed from spellcraft. The bracelet was probably a magical artifact that could quickly generate simple curses. However, when the black mist reached me, it disappeared into nothing. It hadn’t even caused me any pain or discomfort before dissipating.
“What?! That didn’t land?!”
“Curses don’t work on me. My body’s pretty resilient,” I joked.
In a single bound, I reached the heart. Raising my sword, I brought the weapon down as hard as I could, without mercy.
The artifact shone with a gray light as I split it in two—or it would have, if not for the arm that burst out from it a mere moment before my blade reached it. The bloodred arm caught my sword in its hand.
“Wha—?!” I gasped in surprise.
No way! I grumbled in my head. But even as I silently cursed, I hopped backward, keeping myself ahead of the game.
“My, my, that was close. Had you been just a little faster, you really would have ruined our plan.”
The man, who’d been shocked at his failed curse just moments ago, was now clapping. As he did, the arm thrust itself into the ground—and with a horrendous creaking sound, the rest of its body began to form.
First came a second arm to match the original, then the torso. Flesh grew over the heart lying on the ground, then stretched outward to form the shoulders, chest, and belly. As those developed, its neck also stretched upward, twisting into a head. Its face was a deep red, the same color as the rest of its body. Purple eyes emerged from the surface of its face, followed by black horns. Its visage was twisted into a fierce snarl of anger—and I recognized the creature’s appearance now.
“A demon?” I blurted out.
I’d been correct—the red monster looked shockingly similar to the demons of legend I’d heard of in Japan. As its arms, legs, and body neared complete manifestation, the terrible feeling that had been plaguing me drove my heart to race even faster.
“This is our ultimate ace—a beast summoned from a different world! How long will you fare against it?!”
“Groooaaar!”
The red demon, now with both feet planted firmly on the ground to hold it up, released a bellowing roar so loud I wanted to cover my ears. Birds bolted from the surrounding trees and underbrush, and I even caught sight of a few monsters fleeing some distance away.
“Now go! Destroy that interloper, then destroy the town!”
The man in the very back issued orders to the demon. The creature glowered at me, then charged with an upraised fist.
I gasped. “It’s fast!”
It closed the distance of five meters in an instant. Its hulking body, more than twice my size, was directly in front of me in the blink of an eye. I swung my sword reflexively, but it merely struck the demon with a loud clang. Not even a scratch!
“No way!” I yelped in surprise. Just how hard was its skin?!
As I grumbled in frustration, the demon swung its arm at me. I didn’t have time to dodge, so I brought my sword up to block the blow. The shock of the impact reverberated through me, knocking me out of my stance before it sent me flying backward.
I crashed into a large tree, and excruciating pain shot through my back.
“Damn, it’s strong,” I swore. “I didn’t attack with my full power, but I did use magecraft, and that wasn’t even enough to break through its skin.”
I was now certain that even if I poured all of my magecraft into an attack now, I still wouldn’t defeat it—in fact, I probably wouldn’t even manage to wound it significantly.
“What now, Hisui?” Aruna asked, looking down at me. “It’s far stronger than you. Are you going to try attacking it the same way you did with the basilisk, destroying your body to kill it?”
Fouré and Cult were floating above me as well, the former looking down at me anxiously while the latter stared at the demon in fascination.
“I don’t really want to make my sisters worry too much,” I replied.
Enhancing my body to that point was my last resort. I’d rather not do that if it was possible to avoid it—that was the kind of move that ought to be reserved for when the situation was truly dire.
Besides, it wasn’t as though I didn’t have other options for breaking this stalemate. I could still boost my firepower through magecraft and attack again.
And with that, I had a plan.
Coughing up blood as I rose to my feet, I used godcraft as emergency first aid.
“Grrr!”
The demon stopped in its tracks to stare at me. Surprised that I’m a lot tougher than you expected, huh? Well, that makes the two of us. You’re stupidly tough, and stupidly strong—I can see why the acolytes went through all the trouble of summoning you, I thought.
And that was why I couldn’t let this demon escape.
Just now, the man had told the demon to attack the town once it was done with me. In other words, he meant to unleash the demon on the unsuspecting townsfolk, which meant there was a very real risk that Armeria and the others would be hurt. I couldn’t allow that to happen no matter what.
“Come at me, then! I won’t let you lay a single finger on my family!”
Spitting blood, I tossed away my sword.
My tempestuous emotions came boiling up and manifested in my right hand as pure power. Red energy converged in my palm. Purple energy appeared in my left hand.
Spellcraft combined with magecraft.