It was a lance like a knight might use, made out of crystal, but it was no ordinary make. The fragile crystal had broken the cobblestones without so much as cracking itself.
“Magic…I suppoooose?” Psychic caster Entoma sensed something from the lance that anyone with a magic-using class would understand.
“That’s right. A tier-four arcane spell, Crystal Lance.” The one who answered was a figure who had gently alighted on the end of the shaft—a short, robed woman wearing a mask who spoke with a young-sounding voice.
Another one? Entoma was getting sick of this. Just as she thought she’d captured a delicious meal, another intruder had appeared. At this point, it would have been harsh to tell her to restrain herself.
“Could I have you leave it at that?”
“Who are youuuu? If you leave right now, I’ll forgive youuu, so can you go off somewherrrrre? I like tender chillllldren, but there aren’t so many parts of them you can eaaaaat. I’ll fight you after I eat these twoooooo.”
“I see. A monster that feeds on humans, huh? Is that maid getup you’re wearing some kind of joke? I can’t imagine anyone would be happy to have a monster who reeks of blood serving them.”
“SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU LITTLE BITCH!” Entoma let her real voice slip in spite of herself and grabbed her throat.
The newcomer’s remarks were so unforgivable, she nearly lost herself in violent emotion. She was seized by the urge to rip this girl limb from limb, not by the principle of survival of the fittest but out of contempt.
What did she just say to me, one of the Pleiades of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, who serves the Supreme Beings?
Hellfire crackled and popped in the pit of her stomach. “YOU’RE DEEEAD!” She couldn’t help her voice, but she felt her back bulging and frantically tried to keep at least that under control.
“Evileye!”
Entoma learned the masked woman’s name—the name of the opponent she had to kill with all her might—when Tia shouted it.
“I wondered what you guys were doing… Good grief, this is some elementary stuff: Think about the difference in ability between you and your opponent. This one is stronger than you guys…but weaker than me.” With a flourish of her cape, Evileye shouted, “How dare you bully my comrades, monster! Now I’ll give you a taste and see how you like it. Better be grateful!”
Entoma couldn’t have cared less about the shouts from beneath her opponent’s mask.
Steeped in murder, she charged. Her brain, ruled by hatred, was barely conscious of the other two any longer except as bothersome little pebbles.
You say there’s no one who would be happy to have me serve them?!
The words went around and around in her head.
She moved her Whip Bug. Apart from the three feet or so she was holding on to, the rest was in a huge ball. At its core, of course, was Gagaran.
“I’LL CRUSH YOU AND YOUR COMRADES! YOU AWFUL WOMAN!”
Her blow fell like a hammer.
“Hmph! What a pitiful attack.” Evileye didn’t break her composure. “Reverse Gravity!”
Entoma resisted the spell, but her Whip Bug became weightless and floated into the air.
As a rule, gear resisted when the equipper did, but in the case of a bug weapon, it wasn’t the tamer but the bug itself who had to do the resisting.
That led to situations like this one, where Entoma didn’t get affected but the Whip Bug did. The bug may have been able to attack on its own, but this was one of its drawbacks.
Naturally, having been hit with that spell, Entoma was forced to discard her original plan.
Sensing Entoma’s intentions, the Whip Bug withdrew its entire thirty-plus-foot length from Gagaran all at once, like a tape measure winding up.
Meanwhile, Gagaran fell to the ground, and Evileye gave her instructions. “Gagaran! You’re in the way! Heal Tia’s wounds or something! If your gauntlets are out of power, use a potion!”
Injured humans would recover. If that was all, there was no issue—neither of those women was capable of fighting Entoma. But adding the caster in front of her into the equation changed things.
Evileye was on an equal footing with Entoma. If she received even a little support, the battle would tilt to Entoma’s disadvantage.
So Entoma decided—although she didn’t really want to—to use her true ace move. She’d already used it once to annihilate all the enemies in the mansion, but she could still unleash it two more times.
The move was spewing out meat-eating flies—Fly Breath.
This breath released a mass of flies that didn’t eat away at meat but instead bored into flesh and left maggots, like botflies. They dealt damage over time as the maggots burrowed into the victim’s body. Even more terrifyingly, that wasn’t all: The flies that emerged would form a huge, cloud-like army and attack anyone within range, minus special exceptions.
Entoma opened her throat up wide, baring her true mouth, which was near where a human’s jaw would normally be. To an onlooker, it probably looked like her jaw had been split.
With a retching noise, she spit up a glob of insects.
“Hey! Don’t tell me that ability has something to do with an evil spirit! If that’s the case—” Evileye created a white fog to intercept the flies.
A chill attack was a clever way to intercept, but it would have a hard time providing complete protection. The best would have been a spell or something that caused a blast that could scatter the swarm.
She messed up.
Entoma imagined Evileye being eaten up by maggots, but the counterspell turned out to greatly surpass all her expectations.
The flies bathed in the fog dropped to the ground, and then the haze enveloped Entoma. That moment, she was assailed by unbelievable agony.
“Aghhhhghghgh!!”
The maid’s face was steaming, and she was writhing like she’d been doused with acid.
Evileye had meant only to render her opponent’s breath attack ineffective, but it appeared that she’d inadvertently discovered her true identity.
“Whoa, whoa, can we make it?” Gagaran, war pick at the ready, was watching for a chance to charge. As an excellent warrior, she must have seen that this was where the battle would be decided. Really, judging from their opponent’s capabilities, they needed to end this fight now and as quickly as possible.
The reason Gagaran didn’t charge was that the flailing thirty-foot Whip Bug wouldn’t let her get close. Still, it seemed like the futile resistance of someone who was already defeated.
“What the heck was that spell?”
Evileye answered Tia’s question. “An insecticide spell, Vermin Bane. One of the evil spirits from two hundred years ago had an aspect of an insect. I developed this to exterminate the bugs it used. It’s one of my original creations.”
“Hey! It won’t hurt us, will it?”
“No. It works specifically against bugs and has no effect on any other living thing.”
“…Her face is melting.”
“Tia, that’s because she’s actually a… Huh? No! That’s not a face!”
As if it had been waiting for Evileye’s shout, the maid’s attractive features sagged and fell to the ground with a splat. It looked like the skin of her face had sloughed off, but that wasn’t it. The underside of the skin that had dropped to the ground was covered in insectoid legs.
“Are you serious? A mask-shaped bug…?”
“Guhaaah!”
With a violent retching noise, the maid exposed her throat. A single fissure ran along her extremely rigid-looking neck, and a rather large glob of liquid spilled out.
It looked like vomit, but it was definitely something else—it started to squirm on the ground.
“What the…?”
Even Evileye gasped at the scene playing out before their eyes. She’d never seen anything like it in all her long life.
“A Lip Bug.” That’s what Tia called the soaked, leechlike creature writhing on the cobblestones. “It’s a
bug that consumes human vocal cords and then produces the victim’s voice.”
The tip of the skin-colored leech resembled human lips, and it was gasping in the adorable voice the maid had been speaking with earlier.
As everyone stared, the hand covering the maid’s face slowly moved away. The features she revealed were practically an insect’s.
All the Blue Roses recoiled from her strange appearance. They had guessed as soon as the mask bug had fallen to the ground and they saw how effective the insecticide was, but having the reality before their eyes still sent a jolt of terror through them.
They felt dirty knowing that a monster this far removed from humanity had managed to infiltrate their world.
“YOUU…YOUU…!” It was a stiff-sounding voice that was difficult to understand.
“Well, isn’t your voice just the cutest thing now! I like this one better,” Gagaran spat in disgust, overflowing with hostility. Of all the Blue Roses, she was perhaps the most human. It could have been that she wanted to offer some small gesture to the poor girl whose voice the bug had originally stolen. She seemed to grip her weapon even more tightly.
“Y-YOU HUMANNNNN!”
Earlier in the fight, their opponent had always appeared composed. But now, she’d lost her calm.
If that was the case, there was no longer any time to conserve power—they needed to start in with fierce attacks.
“The real battle begins now! Don’t let your guard down, you two! Know that she’ll be attacking even more brutally than before!” Evileye warned the other two. But knowing them, they didn’t need to be told. They’d probably been ready to risk their lives since the moment the fight began.
The bug maid’s back swelled, and four long appendages—spider legs—surged out from beneath her clothes. It looked like she was carrying them on her back.
Using her new legs, she made an incredible leap, almost as if she’d used Fly. With the height advantage, the monster spewed carnivorous flies down on all of them.
Clicking her tongue, Evileye cast Vermin Bane again.
“YOU’RE THE ONLY ONNNE! YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE I’M SCARED OOOOF! IF I CAN JUST KILL YOUUU, THE REST ARE A ROUTINE JOOOOB!” The bug maid landed. All the flies she’d spit up were dead, and she glared straight at Evileye with her compound eyes. It was probably true that Evileye was the only one who could fight on equal footing with her. If Evileye lost, this phase of the battle would be decided, and Gagaran and Tia would surely be slaughtered, but Entoma’s decision to limit her focus to one opponent was still a mistake.
“Rrragh!” Gagaran struck with her war pick from the side.
No matter how superior Evileye was, this powerful warrior wouldn’t just leave things up to her—she would fight. She might have known there was a good chance she’d be intercepted and seriously wounded, but she would fight alongside her comrade. Evileye smiled at her beneath her mask—the kind of expression she’d be too embarrassed to make without something covering her face.
The monster went to dodge Gagaran’s attack but paused for a mere instant—due to Tia’s ninjutsu, Unyielding Chains. She seemed to have immunity rather than resistance, so the trap skill was unable to stop her completely, but the creation of even the smallest opening was enough for Gagaran.
The monster countered Gagaran’s strike, extra powerful thanks to Strong Blow, by spitting spider silk—enough to turn the warrior’s entire upper body pure white.
The thread was both sticky and rigid; even Gagaran with her strong arms didn’t seem able to rip it apart so easily. She aborted her attack and tottered to the rear. Instead, it was the monster who charged.
“Crystal Lance!” A translucent missile shot toward the beastly girl.
The lance struck its target and sunk in deep, but she didn’t seem to feel any pain. On the contrary, she was calm enough to begin amassing countless bugs out of the dark night, swarming around her left arm.
“Vermin Bane!”
The white fog whooshed toward them, and the bugs on the monster’s arm fell to the ground while she let out another pained scream.
Her mouth, where a human’s jaw would have been, aimed for Evileye and spewed the same spider silk that had targeted Gagaran.
Blocking it with magic would be a waste of MP. I’m immune to hold-type techniques, so I guess I should just take it and— Wait, no! Evileye panicked and cast a spell.
The substance from the monster’s mouth was definitely a form of thread, but it shone as if it was harder than what had hit her companion.
“Crystal Wall!”
The crystal wall before her eyes broke into pieces, as if it’d been slashed up by a sharp blade, and disappeared.
“So it’s a spiderweb that can slice?”
“Here’s a present for you!” Tia threw a net of black threads that spread out in the air, but it didn’t tangle up the monster. It passed through her body like an illusion and fell to the ground.
“So she really does have complete resistance to obstruction.”
“Tch! Time to strategize!” Gagaran said, disgusted. She kicked the maid away, which also put some space between them.
Surprisingly, when her foot met the maid’s outfit, it made a metallic noise.
The other Blue Roses, on the alert for area-of-effect attacks, joined Gagaran as she retreated to gain some distance from the bug maid.
“DAMMIIIT, DAMMIIIT! COMING TO ATTACK MEEE…HOW ANNOYIIING!”
Gagaran watched the maid snap her lower jaw and spoke softly to Evileye. “Did you hear that sound just now? That maid outfit can’t be as hard as my weapon, can it?”
“It seems to be woven from some type of tough metallic thread. Judging from how thin it is, that material must be overwhelmingly harder than your boot.”
“Harder than…adamantite?”
“Not only that! All her gear is high-class stuff… My earth magic doesn’t seem to do much. That means something she’s equipped with must decrease any magic damage we deal her. Honestly, I don’t think clever backdoor attacks will have much effect.”
“Which means?”
Evileye grinned under her mask at Tia’s question. “We obliterate her head-on with the strongest cards we have to play all at once.”
“Isn’t that easier said than done? How are we going to pull that off? If we don’t do it quickly, she’ll power up with her talismans!”
“All we have to do is each use our most powerful move. I’ll use my insecticide spell.”
Obliterating her with the big guns all at once wasn’t going to be such an easy task.
Normally, she would support the warriors with Sand Field: Single and Partial Petrification to kill their opponent’s mobility, but that wouldn’t work on this maid.
Before, Evileye had believed it was a mistake to concentrate on pure attack magic, that she could leave dealing damage up to Gagaran’s physical attacks, and that her role was to devise a plan for if those stopped working. But she couldn’t say that anymore. It’s my personal belief that casters who rely on pure attack magic are second-rate, but I guess this time I have to bend.
Evileye assembled the spells she needed to cast. Shard Buckshot at maximum power would be most effective, but her comrades would get caught in the fire. Her high-tier, original spell Vermin Bane burned through a lot of magical energy, so she wanted to save it for when the maid summoned more familiars if possible. In that case, the best choice was not her preferred tactic but acid magic instead.
The three of them traded glances to confirm they were ready, and all attacked at once.
Evileye’s Acid Splash formed the main thrust of the attack. Tia didn’t have as much firepower, so she mainly supported with items. Using her martial arts, Gagaran struck again and again.
After a short while, the balance had shifted.
Certainly, their opponent was strong. She could attack with multiple types of spider silk, magic talismans, and summon bugs. She also had more powerful magic items than the Blue Roses did.
But although the Blue Roses’ healing resources were dwindling, the bug maid was withdrawing more often.
If anyone asked Evileye what had influenced the battle the most, she would have proudly answered, “My comrades.”
Certainly, Gagaran and Tia were weak compared to Evileye and the monster before them. Still, they outnumbered the creature, and that couldn’t be taken lightly. The ability to recover while attacking was a big deal. It was even better to be able to receive healing from a supporter when one didn’t have a way to heal oneself. That made all the difference.
“Careful not to make simple mistakes! Let’s keep the pressure on!”
3
4 Late Fire Moon (September) 10:27 PM
It was a fierce battle.
The bug maid finally sunk to the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
Evileye had lost a lot of magical energy, and most of her consumables were gone. In terms of sheer profit and loss, she was far in the red.
“We won.” Breathing roughly, covered in wounds, Gagaran proclaimed their victory. She didn’t have a single healing item left, but she hadn’t lost as much health as her visible injuries made it seem.
“Let’s deal the final blow.”
“Yeah,” Evileye agreed with Tia’s suggestion. The bug maid was dying, but she wasn’t deceased yet. Her shrill cries were proof of that.
The safe thing to do was to unhesitatingly take her life while she was already robbed of her capacity for combat.
Tia charged with her sword but suddenly froze. Faster than Evileye could ask what was wrong, she saw what had happened.
“Could I have you leave it at that?”
She couldn’t believe it, but at some point, a man had arrived and was standing in front of the bug maid.
He wore strange clothes that were not ordinarily seen in the region. From what Evileye knew, it was a type of garment worn in the south called a suit. The newcomer also wore a mask, so she couldn’t see his face.
Only one thing was certain: He couldn’t be human. A tail was visible behind him.
“Hey, Evileye, is he a relative of yours?”
Don’t be stupid, she wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out. She felt like she’d been struck by lightning. When she looked at her right hand, it was soaked with sweat.
The Men of the Kingdom Part II Page 15
