I gripped the Red Wind in my hand and struck the massive head of the main body.
– Kyaaaah!!
Black stains erupted, and an ear-splitting scream echoed through the underground.
The shadows around me thrashed like crazy. It felt like the very space itself was trying to swallow me whole.
One hit wasn’t enough, was it? Honestly, I didn’t really expect much.
I slashed through the approaching shadows with my dagger and the wind. After that, it was indiscriminate slaughter.
In the end, it was just a power that manipulated shadows. The numbers were ridiculous, but against overwhelming speed, numbers meant nothing.
The view I had while accelerating with the wind was different from others. It felt like time was slowing down.
This phenomenon occurs when the speed and reflexes of the body surpass that of a human. The concentration of time deepens. It seemed like everything around me, except for myself, had stopped.
In that world where everything seemed frozen, I sliced through the rushing shadows one by one.
They couldn’t even track me with their eyes.
If they saw me, they would already have been cut down. I was faster at slicing them than they could recognize me.
The fragmented shadows fell to the ground once more. They were slimy and sticky, grossing me out. Should I throw away this outfit too? I have no idea how many uniforms I’ve had tailored these past few days.
But still…
“Now it’s just you left.”
Now, only the main body and I remained.
The shadows he wielded divided when slashed, but with each division, they grew smaller.
It seemed they couldn’t keep dividing infinitely; at some point, they stopped regenerating as I kept cutting them.
Thus, the underground fell silent.
Having sliced through all the shadows, it was as if I had severed all his arms and legs.
In other words, it was checkmate.
“Don’t move.”
The main body seemed to finally realize the peril and attempted to attack me with black tentacles, but it couldn’t do that.
Because its eyes met mine.
Once our eyes locked, he couldn’t win against me no matter what. His mind was already under my control.
I could make him dream or show him hallucinations. If I used a bit more magical energy, I could even control his movements.
Now, he was completely powerless. I placed my hand on the enormous body and slowly began to read his memories.
Why was he in such a place? How did he become the Seed of the Demon King?
And then…
“…”
After a little while, I realized the reason.
He hadn’t chosen to become a seed willingly. Some sort of backing had influenced him. Thus, he had developed a hostility against living beings.
Slowly reading the memories, I grasped the situation.
Reading the memories of a creature with plenty of information sometimes yielded greater results than reading books.
Having gained another piece of knowledge, I withdrew my hand from the monster’s body. I paused for a moment and, sure enough, the monster’s shadows began to regenerate.
It seemed it had rather good regenerative abilities. If left alone for a few hours, it would quickly return to its previous state.
It would be best to kill it before that happened.
“I have to kill it.”
Again, my hand, holding the sword, trembled.
It would hurt if I stabbed it, right? Blood would probably spill out. It might become furious, and it could possibly live its life wracked with guilt.
This was an emotion even I couldn’t quite figure out. The one who had killed countless humans under the pretense of meals was now hesitating to kill a mere monster.
But it had to be done.
So, I closed my eyes. In the world behind closed eyelids, humans and monsters looked the same.
I could not distinguish between humans and monsters through the feeling of stabbing the sword.
It took a lot of courage to stretch out my hand holding the sword.
“……Ah.”
No, that won’t do.
Thinking about it, I realized I didn’t even need to stab.
“Commit suicide.”
I commanded while locking eyes with the Seed of the Demon King.
The monster pierced its own body with the tentacles of shadow and died.
Only a heavy silence remained in the once-chaotic underground. I turned to leave, but something shimmering inside the monster’s body made me stop.
It was in an area close to the heart of the massive body.
Driven by curiosity, I stabbed my sword into the monster’s body and pulled something out.
It was a fragment radiating a golden light. Could this be the source of the strange power I sensed from the monster?
“This is the Fragment of the Demon King…”
It looked a bit different from the image I had in mind. I thought it would be a bit more disgusting.
But just to be safe, maybe I should take it with me.
Today’s spoils were the Demon King.
*
Lucia, supporting Rena while moving outside the cave, let out heavy breaths.
Once confirming that there were no monsters pursuing them, she briefly stopped and lowered Rena to the ground.
“Hah, hah…”
Of course, she didn’t just want to take a break; it was time for first aid.
After placing Rena down, Lucia rummaged through her backpack. Since the cave was too dark to see well, she first took out and lit a lantern.
She poured the low-grade holy water she had bought at the market onto Rena’s wounds.
Fortunately, Rena’s injury wasn’t severe. As the holy water took effect, the bleeding stopped, and the wound healed.
After bandaging the injury, she waited, and Rena coughed and opened her eyes.
“Keh!”
“…Are you a bit more conscious now?”
While wiping Rena’s forehead with a handkerchief, Lucia spoke.
Terrible things had happened.
In a cave that she claimed was low-risk, strange shadow monsters appeared, and she lost the journal that recorded the cave’s ecosystem, leaving Iria behind.
She knew the cause of the accident. Generally, the range of magical tools that measure the risk of unexplored areas is limited.
Even the supervising professor, Eve, probably didn’t know the cave connected this deeply.
The three of them, after walking for several hours, had already crossed beyond the range measured by the magical tools. They should have noticed the gradually intensifying concentration of magical energy, but they were too complacent.
In fact, Lucia had sensed something was off around the middle but had overestimated her abilities.
After all, Lucia had easily dealt with lower-level monsters alone. Besides, Rena was there to back her up, and Iria, who was even stronger than both, was right next to her.
They thought they would manage somehow.
Whatever monster came their way, Lucia was overly confident that they could handle it.
So now, here they were. Lucia felt considerable guilt about this incident.
[Just go.]
Those were Iria’s last words as she held off the monsters to cover their backs.
Lucia had truly left her behind. That fact weighed heavily on her mind, so even after Rena opened her eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to speak for a while.
“Where are we?”
“……”
“What about Iria…?”
“……”
Rena, clutching her sore wounds, asked, but no response came back.
An uneven conversation continued, full of questions with no answers.
“Why is it so unsettling…?”
“……”
“Speak, will you!”
That was when Rena first felt an ominous feeling.
Lucia bit her lip, avoiding Rena’s gaze. Rena felt anxious, and Lucia was just as frustrated.
The fact that she had run away without being able to do anything stuck to her like a shackle, scratching at her pride.
But she couldn’t just keep silent. Ultimately, she had to speak.
Lucia spoke heavily.
“…She’s still inside. She might be dead.”
“What?”
There weren’t just two shadows inside the cave. If anything, there were at least three or possibly many more.
Iria had held them off all by herself. Rena and Lucia couldn’t take down a single shadow even when they both attacked together.
No matter how strong Iria was, it was impossible for her to take down that many alone. Not to mention, without Rena’s flames, they wouldn’t have seen well in the dark.
The cave was a pitch-black space with not a speck of light coming in.
So, she felt guilty but thought it was only natural that Iria would have died. This thought lingered until someone’s footsteps echoed from the depths of the cave.
“I’m not dead.”
“……?”
“Iria!”
A pair of bright red eyes stood out in the darkness.
Despite being human, those eyes shining in the dark were undoubtedly Iria’s.
She walked over, her body covered in black stains. Rena rushed to her and hugged her tightly.
But how?
Those many monsters were impossible to breach even by an experienced knight. It was said that the number of monsters pouring in could be related to the Seed of the Demon King.
Yet, a mere student managed to handle them and escape? That couldn’t be true, could it?
“They were softer than I expected.”
“Oh, really?”
As she peeled the stains off her head, Iria casually replied.
Had the late-coming monsters not been that strong after all? The black slime she removed didn’t seem threatening at all.
“Well… anyway, I’m glad you made it back safely. I lost the journal, but… is the practicum really that important when an accident happens?”
Those weren’t words that should come out from a study-obsessed girl like Lucia.
Still, considering it had been a situation where they could have died, she had to feel thankful they’re alive right now.
“The journal? This one?”
“……!!”
“I found it on the way; it was lying around.”
Iria said, holding a bundle of paper in her hand.
In this external practicum, her contribution had been significant.
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