ch41-ch60 · 062-ch54

Chapter 54 — Shadow Mystery Tale ⑥

The shadow of Shinjuku Tower in Kakuriyo.

A place within Kakuriyo where magical essence was thin and mana was abundant.

A short distance from this spot, which had become a kind of sanctuary, Sai and the others prepared to intercept the Shadow-Eater.

The shadow of Shinjuku Tower loomed tall.

For the Shadow-Eater, it was the perfect travel point — ideal for shadow-walking.

They positioned themselves at a spot with few shadows, keeping a moderate distance from Shinjuku Tower.

After all, their enemy was the Shadow-Eating Demon King.

A calamity that traveled from shadow to shadow, devouring shadows to steal the very existence of its prey.

A grotesque monster with no intelligence — just endless hunger — yet feared as a Demon King.

Opposing it: the other-world sage Hexaria. The exorcists Ichijō Hiyori and Kuri Mio. The tengu Ginreibo. The divine spirit Set-chan. And the veteran adventurer, Sai.

They settled into formation and waited for the moment of confrontation.

Sai took the moment to lay out the operation.

"Let me go over the formation one more time. Saria, the first attack and sealing the main body are on you."

"Leave it to me."

Hexaria nodded grandly.

"It'll definitely create some split bodies. Don't know how many, but guaranteed. Hiyori, Mio, Ginreibo, Set-chan — you handle those. If even one gets past us, consider it escaped."

"Yeah. Leave it to us, Sensei."

"Pii!"

"I'll do my best!"

"KAKAKA! I've got plenty of immortal arts to burn now!"

Originally, this role was supposed to go to Sai, Hiyori, and Mio. But with the restored Ginreibo and Set-chan added to their forces, Sai would take on a different role.

"I'll support both sides."

In party combat, Sai's role was the midguard.

Front line if needed, back line if needed. Active support as the situation demanded was second nature. He hadn't been an adventurer for all these years for nothing.

As Mio watched Sai speak, something at his hip caught her eye.

It was equipment he'd taken out when they decided to intercept the Shadow-Eater.

"By the way, Sensei... that thing at your waist..."

"Ah, this is a magic gun. It fires bullets imbued with magical power. Couldn't exactly show it off in Japan, and never had a use for it, but it seemed useful this time."

The magic gun. It was one of those somewhat unremarkable pieces of equipment born in the other world.

Its characteristic feature was the ability to fire bullets loaded with magical power — magic bullets.

In the other world, it was a weapon that had been around for ages, but was rarely used. As mentioned, if you were going to load magic into bullets, you might as well just use magic suited to the situation instead. On top of that, the magic you could load into it was limited, so there was no reason to go out of your way to use it.

The verdict — in humanoid combat, guns were meaningless against arrow-deflecting enchantments.

So what about monster combat? At long range, accuracy was poor; and if you were going to get close, you'd be better off with a regular weapon. There was no real need for it to be a gun.

Because of that assessment, it was a rather inconspicuous piece of gear among adventurers.

That said, it wasn't without its uses. Since you could load magic into bullets in advance, it had applications in situations where magical power was strained. Being able to use magic even when your mana was depleted was useful, but in the other world, situations where you fought until your mana ran out were rare to begin with.

It was also useful as a self-defense weapon for travelers — powerless pilgrims and merchants — who might be attacked by beasts or goblins.

And so, while unremarkable, it survived as a modest self-defense weapon passed down through the ages.

But to Hiyori and Mio, who didn't know much about the other world, it was a novelty.

"Sensei, you're a gunslinger too?"

"So there's even something like that..."

"Pii..."

Their eyes sparkled a little.

Set-chan was inexplicably excited too. Maybe even by Japanese divine spirit standards, it was rare.

"Ahem! Let's continue. One last warning! Keep an eye on your own shadows. If the Shadow-Eater gets close, it'll use shadow-walking to come at you!"

Their opponent was a monster capable of teleportation via shadow-walking. They wanted to minimize its chances to close the distance. If it bit you, one hit could be fatal. That was why this time, the key was how well they could strike from mid-to-long range.

Occasionally, intermittent sounds — thud... thud... — echoed from the surroundings.

The sound was growing louder.

From a demon's shadow to an object's shadow, from an object's shadow to a demon's shadow — the unique resonance of shadow-walking rang out.

And then, finally, the moment came.

With a deafening BOOM, the "shadow" appeared.

Before Sai and the others, the Shadow-Eating Demon King manifested.

In silhouette, it might have been a spiky sphere. A sphere caked in pitch-black paint. But too distorted to be a proper sphere — closer to one than a tetrapod, but not quite. As Ginreibo had said, it was something indescribable.

But looking closely, the spikes were demon upper bodies, legs — the stolen existences themselves, simply attached. Looking at the whole thing, you could see its entire surface was composed of countless demons.

And they writhed ceaselessly.

A calamitous aberration that drove onlookers to madness. The Shadow-Eater.

"I heard the stories, but... what IS that..."

Hiyori was overwhelmed by its size. It was too big. A colossal body that made even comparing sizes feel ridiculous. From Hiyori's perspective, it looked like nothing more than a wall bearing down on her.

And it never stopped writhing.

"It looks like something out of a game..."

"Haha... Mio-chan says weird things when she's panicking."

She couldn't tell what Mio was imagining, but it was clear she was overwhelmed. She'd heard the stories, but this was different. That thought crossed her mind.

"We're gonna fight that, aren't we..."

"Haha, looks like it..."

"Pii!"

"Yeah, it got that big from eating Shinjuku Tower..."

"Hmph. It's noticed me. Its eyes are bloodshot for new prey."

While the two girls stood stunned, Hexaria could feel the Shadow-Eater's gaze upon her.

That was when Mio realized something.

Hexaria — didn't she have that incredibly powerful ability?

"W-wait, what about using charm on the Shadow-Eater...!"

"It's a Demon King. Won't work."

"I see..."

Hexaria's charm was an exceptionally powerful ability. But naturally, it wouldn't work on monsters with little intelligence, let alone monsters called Demon Kings. If a Demon King had intelligence, there might be some effect, but the Shadow-Eating Demon King had very little. It moved to eat, and crossed shadows to eat. Charm didn't work on such beings.

"Hmph! All that size is just a front anyway."

Indeed, the massive body before them was by no means its true body. Though calling it "just a front" felt absurd given its sheer scale.

"Almost in range! Let 'em have it, Saria!"

"Preparations are already complete!"

As she spoke, numerous enormous magic circles deployed around Hexaria. The ones deploying them were her attendants — a swarm of spirits.

"In unison, my attendants. Solar Magic: Aurora!!"

With those words, multiple beams of aurora literally vaporized the colossal Shadow-Eater.

Aurora was a heat-ray spell that imbued sunlight with the holy attribute. It could be called a weakness of the Shadow-Eater, a being of shadow.

Not just Hiyori and the others — even Ginreibo was stunned by the spell's power. The torrent of magical power, something unseen within Shinjuku Tower's closed spaces, literally vaporized the enormous and mighty Shadow-Eating Demon King.

"As expected of Lady Hexaria! What incredible power!"

But Hexaria contradicted Ginreibo's praise.

"And yet, its main body hasn't taken any damage at all!"

"What!?"

Ginreibo had been briefed beforehand. But after seeing Hexaria's attack, he'd expected at least some damage had been dealt. And yet, hearing that "it hasn't taken any damage at all" — he could only be astonished.

It was only natural. The Shadow-Eating Demon King's true body was the shadow itself. No matter how much of the demon aggregate coating — the decoration — was vaporized, it didn't hurt the Shadow-Eater in the slightest.

That was why the Majin had fallen, why even Set-chan, a divine spirit, had been bested.

But this was exactly what Sai had explained — going according to plan. This was the first attack as laid out in the operation.

"It's splitting! You lot, the split bodies are yours!"

As expected, the colossal Shadow-Eater split into several bodies, as if fleeing the torrent of Aurora. With the one still maintaining its massive form after bathing in Aurora as the main body, ten-meter-class ones emerged. And countless two-meter-class ones spawned as well.

Even if it was just as described, they were still a considerable size.

"Then I'll take on the intermediate-sized ones!"

Ginreibo seemed to be going after the ten-meter-class.

Which meant Hiyori, Mio, and Set-chan would handle the countless two-meter-class ones.

"Hiyori, Set-chan, let's do this!"

"Pii!"

"Okay!!"

The Demon King battle had begun. Now the real fight started.

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Thank you for reading.