ch41-ch60 · 063-ch55

Chapter 55 — Shadow Mystery Tale ⑦

The battle with the Shadow-Eater began.

Hexaria took the main body. Ginreibo took the ten-meter-class split bodies. And the countless two-meter-class split bodies were for Hiyori, Mio, and Set-chan.

Sai was standing beside Hiyori and the others.

"All three of you! We'll deal with the small fry first!"

"Deal with..."

Hiyori muttered to herself.

Even calling them small, these Shadow-Eaters were bigger than Hiyori's height.

Looking closely, they were masses made of demon heads, demon bodies, demon arms, demon legs... There were even child demons among them.

The child demons looked like they were about to cry, their faces filled with terror of something dreadful.

Hiyori reached for her beloved blade, Shiroharai. At least let me give them a quick end. That thought crossed her mind.

But the moment she loosened the blade in its sheath, Sai's rebuke flew at her.

"Don't get close! Hit them with purification-type magic!"

"Sorry, Sensei!"

Snapping back to reality at his words, Hiyori fired a holy-attribute magic bullet with purification ability. As if timing with her shot, Mio and Set-chan also released magic bullets.

After several shots, the demon mass began to shrink. In that instant, the shadow seemed to bulge.

Sai shouted.

"Now! Shoot the shadow!"

As if she'd been waiting for those words, Mio fired a magic bullet at the shadow. The swelling shadow was the Shadow-Eater's escape maneuver. If it got away, it would regenerate somewhere else, so they absolutely couldn't let it escape.

When the magic bullet struck the swollen shadow, the shadow began to dissipate.

"Well done! There are still more of them! I'm counting on you!"

With that encouragement, Sai headed off to support Ginreibo.

Countless Shadow-Eaters still remained here.

Did they have to take down all of them?

She needed to steel herself.

Hiyori slapped her own cheeks with both hands. A loud smack! rang out.

"Alright! You two, let's mow 'em down!"

"Pip!"

"Yes. Hiyori, let me know if you're about to give out."

Saying that, Mio patted her own hip. There were several mana recovery potions there. Her father Hayato had given them to her before they came to Kakuriyo. Mana recovery potions, presented tearfully with, "I'm sorry this is all I can do." He couldn't fight on the front lines, but he was always there to support her — Hiyori's reliable dad.

If they didn't finish them off here, this calamity would head for the present world. Hiyori and the others carried a heavy responsibility.

But in Hiyori's hand was a bracelet-type magic wand. In Mio's hand was a staff-type magic wand. Both were weapons their teacher Sai had given them.

And there was Set-chan, the spirit they'd befriended in this Kakuriyo.

Now was the time to show results worthy of everything they'd learned and received.

◇

"Honestly, I never expected the immortal arts to be this useless...!"

Ginreibo, who had returned from his crow tengu form to his original red great tengu appearance when the battle began. Those were the first words he let out as he faced the Shadow-Eater.

Ginreibo's — a tengu's — immortal arts were, in essence, a type of magic system that became all-purpose by taking in mana. There were techniques that strengthened the body — flight, immortality — and others that converted the natural environment before one's eyes into attacks. It was a type of environmental magic, and it was what made a tengu a tengu.

Ginreibo specialized in self-enhancement, but he also had centuries of accumulated techniques for converting the environment into attacks. Since his prized nose had been cut off, he'd lost access to most of his immortal arts, but thanks to the Soma he'd received from Hexaria, he could now use every art in his repertoire.

And yet, even so, he couldn't do a thing against the giant Shadow-Eater before him. The ten-meter-class Shadow-Eater had originally been only one, but before he knew it, it had multiplied to three. Sometimes it extended shadowy hands, other times it fired dark magic bullets.

In response, Ginreibo could only flee or dodge. If he got close, he'd be devoured by the shadows. So he was left with only environmental magic — but that too was useless in the current situation.

Because...

"There's no holy-attribute environment capable of purification in Kakuriyo!"

In Kakuriyo, a world rich in miasma, seeking anything of the holy attribute was a tall order. This was why Ginreibo's senior disciples — hordes of tengu and Majin alike — had been unable to defeat it. Wind blades couldn't cut the massive form; piercing it with stone pillars from the earth only slowed it slightly. A great fire might burn it a little, but the effect was minimal — it would just roll over and put itself out. And besides, doing that would get in the way of Hiyori and the others, not to mention his beloved Lady Hexaria. The cost-benefit ratio was abysmal.

As a result, he was completely on the defensive. All he could do was flee and evade. He ended up having to explain his pathetic situation to Sai, who had come to support him.

"Are you an idiot, Ginreibo!? Fly backward! There's a perfect sanctuary right there, isn't there!"

At those words, Ginreibo realized his own stupidity.

Was this the price of not having used environmental magic for centuries?

"!! I was careless!"

Hadn't Hexaria explained it just a moment ago? That this place was the only location in all of Kakuriyo with low miasma, a place that had become a pure sanctuary.

If the very land itself was a sanctuary — !

Ginreibo flew toward the phantom of Shinjuku Tower looming behind them. The Shadow-Eater's demonic hand reached out for Ginreibo.

"Like hell I'll let you!"

Sai took aim at the demonic hand with his magic gun. A pop-pop sound rang out, and the hand dissipated.

"You saved me, Lord Sai!"

"Save the thanks! If you're a tengu, show us something spectacular!"

"Leave it to me!"

As Ginreibo said this, he produced a large feathered fan from somewhere.

"What I draw forth is the great feathered fan bestowed upon me by Sōjōbō-sama! Heaven's net is vast; though its mesh is coarse, nothing slips through! O ye abomination that devoured my seniors! Receive it — the great holy wind! Now! Rage forth!!"

Suddenly, a great gale raged forth, eroding the Shadow-Eater. The Shadow-Eater, which wouldn't have flinched at ordinary wind even if it had been shredded, was now being corroded by the holy wind, disappearing from wherever it writhed.

Then, the moment the shadow swelled.

"This is it!"

He borrowed part of the very land that composed the sanctuary of Shinjuku Tower, compressed it, shaped it into a stake, and fired it at the swollen shadow.

And so, Ginreibo finally managed to defeat the first split body of the Shadow-Eater.

"Great work! Keep it up, Ginreibo!"

"You have my word! Leave it to me, Lord Sai!"

Ginreibo roared at the top of his lungs. Even though the ten-meter-class enemies still remained, the red great tengu laughed. Because he had figured out how to kill them.

"KAKAKA! I will avenge my senior disciples here and now!"

The tengu of vengeance danced.

◇

Against the Shadow-Eating Demon King — apparently the current main body — the first thing Hexaria did was construct a sanctuary.

Fortunately, the sanctuary known as Shinjuku Tower was nearby. She drew in massive amounts of mana from it, and her magical power management was excellent. She summoned a swarm of spirits — her little maids — and created a sanctuary enclosing the Shadow-Eating Demon King, then sewed its shadows shut with light.

The dozens-of-meters-tall giant writhed, but it couldn't move from the sanctuary. The little maids surrounded the Shadow-Eater, illuminating it with sunlight so it couldn't extend its shadows or move.

For now, they must not attack the main body any further. That was the strategy Sai and Hexaria knew.

Hexaria observed this situation she had created from above.

"Hmph. The secret to its invincibility has been cracked. I won't be bested by mere shadows."

Perhaps out of defiance, the Shadow-Eater fired a volley of magic bullets at the nearest source of food — Hexaria — but she blocked them all with her Hexa Shield, continuing to watch the Shadow-Eater's movements.

As Hexaria stood there arrogantly, Sai arrived.

"This side's fine, yeah?"

"Hmph. Who do you think you're saying that to? But even I have my limits. I don't have much time to maintain this."

She had created a sanctuary and sealed an ultra-large monster. Of course she'd be consuming enormous amounts of magical power.

"I know. I'll finish things up over there quick."

"Because otherwise, that one becomes the main body."

The troublesome part of the Shadow-Eating Demon King was that when it split, the main body function was also distributed. If they defeated the largest Shadow-Eater first, another Shadow-Eater would become the main body, gathering the remaining Shadow-Eaters and fleeing.

The Shadow-Eater had the troublesome property that only when the outer shell (in this case, the demon mass) was destroyed and only the shadow remained, could attacks finally reach the main body — and once it decided to flee, it would flee recklessly without regard for anything. If it committed to escape, even Sai and Hexaria together couldn't stop it.

Even knowing it would consume massive magical power, it would attempt to teleport. It had no intelligence — it moved as if programmed to do so.

That was why they had to crush the split bodies diligently, no matter how troublesome, and defeat the main body last. This process had to be followed strictly.

"It was really troublesome when we fought it in the other world, but this time it looks like we'll be able to defeat it without issue."

This information had been obtained, literally at the cost of their lives, by the adventurers — including Sai and Hexaria — who had challenged the Shadow-Eating Demon King back in the other world.

It was a battle method forged in desperation by the adventurers of a nation driven to ruin by the Shadow-Eater, which had suddenly emerged from another world. Sai and Hexaria remembered well how many sacrifices that battle had demanded. The tears of frustration from that day were still etched in their hearts.

"Everyone returns alive this time."

"Obviously."

Sai and Hexaria bumped their fists together.

And so, the deadly battle with the Shadow-Eating Demon King headed toward its climax.

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Thank you for reading.